Family Ties
by NightFall00
Summary: Hayato is a trainer who ended his journey at fourteen when his parents died and his sister was left alone. Now, three years later, he is a mildly successful author and his sister is a very popular person in her school. Things begin to change, though, when Hayato is forced to battle to protect others, and catches the eye of a woman who wants to adopt them. What will happen?
1. Prologue: Big Changes Coming Our Way

Hey, guys, let me preface this by saying that I'm sorry for not updating anything in a while, and for writing this new story. However, as a bit of a consolation, I'm not deleting anything with the publishing of this story so that should set some minds at ease, or just make some people even more worried that I'm overworking myself. I've just been really busy with preparing for finals (this is the first time I've had to study for them) and my study abroad paperwork (which accounts for approximately ten different forms), but this is the kind of story you all seem to like, but I'm going to have to give you a bit of warning for this one. Since you know that I write OC fanfics, I'm going to tell you guys that I'm not accepting OC reservations. If you want to submit a character, you have to physically send it in instead of asking me to hold a spot. Sorry about this, but hopefully this story will help to motivate you to work even harder.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON, BECAUSE IF I DID, DUNSPARCE WOULD PROBABLY EVOLVE.**

* * *

Prologue: Big Changes Coming Our Way

Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson once stated "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery." Change happens all around us, and more often than not, there is no way to keep it from happening. Throughout history, people have tried to not necessarily stop change, but control it, and make it work so everything changes in the way they think it should. But even still, the world does not listen to any one man, and sometimes it takes a greater man to change when he can longer change the situation. It's a moral challenge more than anything. The fact remains, though, that people just don't want to change. They tend to think they're perfect the way they are, something that society likes to throw around. Truth is, not everybody is a good person, and nobody is completely perfect in what they do. There are two definitions of pure, the first is being blameless, reminiscent of holy, but the second means completely, and just as somebody can be pure of heart, there is such a thing as pure evil. Change is a necessary part of life, and only the fool refuses to admit it.

* * *

The midday sun shone directly down onto the face of the asphalt of the roadway as the area was filled with the mixed sounds of car engines and vague conversations. Standing off to the side to keep from being in anyone's way, a young girl stood with her back facing the brick wall of a giant office building. Her eyes would barely move as people passed by her, some of them turning to her and quickly whispering, cupping their hands to keep anyone else from hearing them. This didn't bother her as much as it used to, she was used to getting looked at when she was by herself. She didn't seem to be doing anything, and for a busy area of the city, that was more than a little strange. She wasn't very old, maybe not even twelve years old, so the chances of her being independent enough to walk around by herself were fairly slim.

Some of the other people that passed by her, though, knew exactly who she was. If one was from the right area, they would know instantly who she was, and why she was waiting outside of a very high-end complex. Even still, it was impossible for these people to keep from shying away out of sheer terror. Other people who didn't know her thought it was strange the others were so afraid of her. She was considerably cute by most people's standards, her face having very light, delicate features, her skin comparably soft and pale, and her hair looked incredibly silky. She wore a very basic school uniform, a black sailor-style uniform, worn out in some areas with an orange colored handkerchief tied loosely from her neck.

As she turned towards the door of the complex, she let out a large sigh with the other people coming out, obviously none of them being who she was waiting for, and simply turned back in front of her. This time, however, when she looked back forward, two people were standing in front of her, about the same age as her, maybe a couple years older. They both wore similar style uniforms, flashing large, cocky smiles in her direction as she stared coldly at the both of them.

"Say, Kazuko-chan, what are you doing in a place like this by yourself?" one of them asked, the girl barely reacting to the way they referred to her so casually. "If you want, we can stay here, and make sure nothing bad happens to you."

"No thanks," Kazuko politely replied, running her fingers through her long, coal colored hair. "The person I'm waiting for shouldn't be too much longer."

"Still, a lot can happen in a short amount of time," the other said, leaning against the wall on his side. "We don't mind waiting for a bit to make sure nothing happens to you and your pretty face," he said, both of them trying to sound as charismatic as possible.

"_I hate pathetic idiots like this,"_ Kazuko said to herself, letting out another large sigh as she looked towards the door. "I guess I'll say this more plainly. Get lost, or I can't promise your safety," she said, the two boys laughing at how serious she sounded just then.

"Why should we be afraid?" the first boy asked. "Who'd hurt us if we're all in a group?" he asked, letting out a quick burst of laughter, but suddenly froze in place as though he were suddenly struck with frostbite.

"Well, for starters, how about Onii-chan?" Kazuko asked, both of the boys turning around, their eyes widening in fear as a single eye peered down at the two of them, the figure standing with a good foot on either of them, tapping his forearm with his arms folded. "He can be pretty scary, you know," she said innocently as the older male took only a few steps forward, quickly scaring away both of the boys with a mere glance. "That's a new record, Onii-chan."

"I don't take too much pleasure in scaring people, Kazuko," her brother said, cracking his knuckles, a green colored backpack strapped over his shoulder. "But I would be lying if I said I don't like scaring off idiots like that. Sorry to keep you waiting, by the way, the publisher was taking a bit longer than he should've with getting the next chapter into print. They wanted to make a few edits and run them by me first."

"It's fine, you're story is starting to get really popular, isn't it, Onii-chan?" Kazuko asked as her older brother grinned with a nod, the two of them walking towards the very end of the street. _"My big brother is really amazing. He's only seventeen, but he's really becoming a good author with his new story. It's just too bad people can't know it's him, but given how he looks, I don't think many people would appreciate him writing romance."_

* * *

Kazuko's brother really wasn't the kind of person you'd expect to write romantic novels, given how he looked and his normal mannerisms. He was fairly tall, much more than most people, standing at around five foot ten with a well built frame. His hair was the same color as Kazuko's, combed over to one side so only his right eye was covered and not both, the rest of it not as well maintained, for whatever that was worth. His eyes, like Kazuko's, were a deep set blue color, the younger of the two siblings having a bit more brilliance in the hue. However, unlike his sister, Kazuko's brother wore more casual clothes rather than a school uniform, wearing a pair of old, worn-out jeans, fading sneakers, a black t-shirt and a red and black track jacket, the sleeves rolled up to his elbow. The only other thing about Kazuko's brother than made people look his way, though, was his hat. A blue beanie style hat which may have been less than ideal given the temperature, but the design on it was unmistakable. A red pokéball design.

* * *

"_My brother doesn't go to school anymore,"_ Kazuko said, as though talking to people watching them. _"He stopped going a long time ago when he became a pokémon trainer. By law, he has to wear that hat so everybody knows he's licensed to train pokémon. He trained pokémon until he was fourteen, that's when our parents died, so now he takes care of me. Even if it makes me sad to think that he had to give up his passion for me, I'm happy he's still by my side."_

Reaching the end of the street corner, Kazuko's brother knelt down at a bike rack, and unlocked the front wheel from the alternating bars. Bringing it into a ready position, the older of the two motioned for his younger sister to sit on a back attachment, Kazuko jumping on with no problem.

"Make sure to hold on tight," her brother said, kicking off on the pedals, and riding along the side of the road, his sister wrapping her arms around his torso. "We'll swing by the thrift shop to drop off some of these clothes, and see if they have anything for cheap prices, okay?" he asked, Kazuko nodding in understanding as the two reaching the end of the next street, turning left.

"_Onii-chan and I don't have a lot of money now that mom and dad are both dead, but even still, his writing makes enough for us to live," _Kazuko said to herself like she was talking aloud. _"Onii-chan may not be very smart in school subjects, so it's hard for him to help me with my homework, but he's very good at managing what money we do have, and he really likes to get new clothes at thrift stores because we get discounts when we donate clothes,"_ she said, looking at the backpack attached to her brother's shoulders. _"He used to carry all kinds of potions, medicines, and pokéballs in that thing, but now he just carries old clothes and groceries."_

As the two continued down the stretch of road, it was impossible for others not to notice them. Since the death of both of their parents, the two had become fairly famous, Kazuko for being able to keep up in school as well as she always had, and her brother for becoming the completely terrifying individual he was at the time. In many cases, people tried to forget that Kazuko even had a brother because of how much the two contrasted from each other. Their personalities and overall physical appearance was sometimes too much for other people to fathom, and many of them wondered if the two really were related.

* * *

The two finally came to a stop in front of older looking building with an old style neon sign. It blinked several times from the wear and tear, and never really being fixed. Still, Kazuko and her brother considered it to be a welcoming sign. Looking up at the sky, Kazuko could see that it was getting later than either of them realized, and night was always a dangerous time for them since her brother could only ride a bike.

Walking into the shop, Kazuko and her brother looked around the well lit store, the clothing racks lined with clothes of all sizes and literally every possible style and pattern. Leaving his sister at the front of the shop, her brother walked towards the very back, Kazuko beginning to scan through the different clothing items. Watching her brother disappear into the back room to donate their older clothes, Kazuko could barely notice one of the store clerks walking up behind her, lightly tapping her shoulder to get her attention.

"So, how are you and Hayato-kun doing so far, Kazuko-chan?" she asked, an older woman acting more like a guardian for the two of them. "I heard you just entered junior high, so you must be very excited."

"I guess," Kazuko replied. "But Onii-chan is always really busy, so we still don't get to hang out as much as we used to. He doesn't really like to think about how things can be more fun for the two of us," she said, the old woman smiling as she readjusted her large glasses.

"Well, you and I both know that Hayato-kun is more than a little task driven," she said, looking through some of the same clothes as Kazuko, seeing how they would fit the young girl. "I heard his new chapter is going to come out next month. All the girls around here are really excited to see what happens next in his story. Can you give me a little hint?"

"Sorry, but Onii-chan said that giving people spoilers takes the fun out of writing entirely," Kazuko said, leaning over the rack to whisper. "Also, you can't call him by his real name when we talk about his novels. You know we can only refer to him by his penname."

"Right, a lot of people would get really mad if they find out their beloved Sakura Hoshino is a scary looking pokémon trainer," the woman said, referring to Hayato by his fake name. "Not saying it's a bad thing to be a trainer these days, but some people can still remember what it was like a few years ago when trainers were either trained privately or were in gangs."

"Yeah, back then, Onii-chan was one of the few trainers that did everything himself," Kazuko said, sighing loudly. "But then again, that's how he does everything. He can't trust people to help him, so he has to do everything himself. I wish he'd rely on me more instead of treating me like I'm still a little kid."

"You are still a child, Kazuko-chan," the woman said, patting the girl's head like an overbearing parent. "Besides, Hayato-kun only wants to keep you safe until you are ready to go out on your own. He chose to grow up much faster than other people, and he even stopped training pokémon when your parents died. He begged the rest of your family to let you stay with him. Everything he does from now on is going to all be for you," she said, Kazuko shifting her eyes to the side, looking back to three years prior during their parents' funeral, her brother kneeling on the rain covered pavement with his face towards the ground.

* * *

"_Please, I'm begging you!" _ he shouted, his voice echoing through the memory as the faceless relatives of both siblings looked down at him in surprise. _"Don't take Kazuko away from me! I promise I'll raise her, I'll take care of her, and I'll do anything to make sure she stays safe! So please! Don't separate us!"_ he shouted at the top of his lungs, Kazuko gripping onto the back of his jacket, both of their eyes filled with tears.

"_We will give you one year,"_ one of their family members said, Hayato lifting up his head with Kazuko keeping her head tilted downward. _"If you can prove that you're a good enough guardian, we will keep the two of you together, but if your training pokémon gets in the way, we cannot promise to leave you be."_

"_I'll quit my pokémon training!"_ Hayato suddenly shouted, Kazuko widening her eyes in shock, knowing how much her brother loved pokémon. _"I'll stop now with the pokémon I have, and I'll devote all my time to making sure we can still live! I'll do whatever I have to give Kazuko as good a life as possible!" _By this time, his voice had already become so much weaker from his shouting. _"Kazuko, what do you say?"_ he asked, the younger Kazuko looking at both her older relatives and Hayato, her face red from trying to keep her tears inside.

"_I…I want to stay with Onii-chan…," _she said quietly, the echoing in all of the voices beginning to fade further and further away as Kazuko broke out of her memory at the sound of distant crashing from the back room.

* * *

"What on earth was that?" the clerk asked, walking angrily towards the donation area, the door leading inside of it suddenly ripping itself from its hinges.

"Kazuko!" a voice suddenly shouted, Kazuko looking around at the sound of her name. "Get down, and make sure everybody does the same, you got that!?" the voice quickly resounded, her brother coming out from the back room, a burst of fire suddenly following after him as he barely jumped out of the way.

"Onii-chan!" Kazuko shouted about to run towards her brother, only for his glare to paralyze her, having not seen that face since he started training pokémon seriously. _"Please be safe…"_

"Evidently the word 'no' is foreign to you people," Hayato said, taking a few more steps back, another young male walking into view, a medium sized pokémon walking next to him, flames spitting out of its mouth with its tongue sticking out; a Heatmor. "I told you a long time ago that I'm not interested in joining your gangs."

"That's not really up for you to decide right now, is it, Hayato?" the other male asked, his pokémon sneering as it stuck its tongue out once more, this time releasing a constant stream of fire, Hayato quickly ducking under one of the display sofas to dodge it. "Our boss told us that if we don't get you to join us willingly, force is just as good. Heatmor, torch the place!" he shouted, the anteater pokémon pointing its head straight up, fire beginning to shoot out in all directions like a shower.

Grinding his teeth, Hayato lowered the cuff on his hat so it almost covered his eyes completely, the longer strands of hair still sticking out. Without a moment of hesitation, he tossed a red and white capsule into the air, the gang member looking at him with a triumphant look on his face. As the ball exploded open, Kazuko peered up from her hiding place and saw a blinding white light where the pokéball was. As it disappeared, a large grin came up in her eyes at the sight of similarly sized pokémon, but with more amphibious features.

"Toxicroak!" both Hayato and Kazuko shouted, the former out of command and the latter out of excitement. "Poison Jab!" Hayato shouted, the poison and fighting type quickly running towards the pure fire pokémon, the young man in front of them sneering as Heatmor looked directly into the pokémon's yellow eyes.

"Now, Heatmor, Flamethrower!" he shouted, the fire type releasing another fire stream, this time aimed at Hayato's pokémon, a triumphant look on his face as Toxicroak ran straight into the attacks path.

Reacting like lightning, however, the poison pokémon jumped straight into the air just as the fire hit the linoleum panels that made of the floor of the shop. As the attack exploded behind it, Toxicroak dove straight down, both of the sheers on its wrists reared behind its back, a sickly purple glow within them. Just before reaching the opposing pokémon, Toxicroak slashed both of its arms across Heatmor's body.

Kazuko began cheering as loudly as possible as Toxicroak remained in an attack pose seconds after it had completed the attack. With his eyes focused on the giant char mark from where his failed attack hit, the gang member stood in a daze at how much more skilled Hayato was, despite having not trained in supposedly three years. The rest of the people in the shop were left surprised too, some of them patting out the fires caused by the gang member's pokémon, Hayato simply stomping down on one to snuff it out.

"I'll make it clear one more time," Hayato said, his Toxicroak standing back up, holding its spades in an attacking position with a wide grin on its face. "You cannot have me, and you will never be able to have me," he said powerfully, lifting up the cuff of his beanie so his left eye was more visible. "I already have some that is much more important to me."

Without saying another word, the gang member began shuffling over the laminate floors, his pokémon struggling to stand back up, and then just bolting out the way they came in. Hayato stayed in position, letting out a large sigh of relief, looking over towards where he knew Kazuko was. Not seeing her where he told her to stay, Hayato squinted only to be knocked over with a large embrace from his younger sister.

"You're so cool, Onii-chan!" she shouted happily. "When you said that they couldn't have you, you looked so strong I thought he was gonna wet himself," she said laughing, the smile on Hayato's face much more gentle than he had been before. "And Toxicroak was as awesome as ever!" she said, the poison and fighting mix giving a large smile to its trainer's sister. "You should battle more often, you look so much cooler than you normally do when you're writing."

"Glad to know you think so highly of my work," Hayato said, walking towards the front desk where the old clerk was. "I'm sorry for causing you guys this kind of trouble. I'll pay for any damages if I have to."

"Don't pay it any mind, Hayato-kun," the woman said, reaching up to pat him on the head the same way she did to Kazuko. "Just make sure that your next chapter is the best, Hoshino-sensei," she said with a wink as Hayato smiled, looking around the shop to make sure nobody was listening to them. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"Sometimes I wonder about that," Hayato said, grabbing Kazuko's hand and leading her outside. "Come on, it's getting dark, so we should probably head home. We'll swing by tomorrow to see if you have anything we might need," he said, the clerk waving goodbye to the two of them as they did the same.

* * *

After the two got outside, the sun was almost completely over the horizon, the sky blanketed in a light orange and purple color. As Hayato reached his bike, and undid the lock on it, Kazuko watched as Toxicroak remained outside of its ball, making sure that nothing happened to the younger of the two of them. As Hayato brought his bike into a ready position, he looked out at the stretch of road, and put his arm out in front of Kazuko to move her back. A few seconds later Kazuko watched a set of headlights pass directly in front of them. After a few more seconds, the stretch limousine stopped, the tinted window rolling down with just enough light to see the woman inside.

"Can I offer the two of you a ride?" the woman asked, her hair gray, and her face aged. "It's dangerous for children such as yourselves to be going out alone at night like this."

"Give us one reason," Hayato said. "I can't think of too many people who'd honestly trust a person at first glance, especially one like you. I'll say this now, but people who have enough money to think they run the world are the people I hate the most," he said, Kazuko nodding in agreement vigorously, but silently nonetheless.

"I understand your hesitance," the woman said gently, Hayato looking at her strangely as Kazuko seemed to be warming up to her a bit more. "I'm sure somebody like you, who'd do anything to protect your little sister wouldn't trust just anyone. You have to feel somebody out, make sure they aren't trying to take advantage of you. You have street smarts, and I can appreciate that."

"You're a business woman, aren't you?" Kazuko asked, the woman looking at her surprised. "I learned about people like you in school. They use words that make people feel good about everything they do, and that makes sure that you can keep things going in the direction you want."

"Hmm, obviously you two aren't to be messed with," the woman said, still speaking from the opening in her window. "A little girl with the mental acuity to top people well beyond her age.. And her big brother who is a very powerful trainer. There's a reason I want to talk to you two, and it has to do with that little display back there."

"Didn't figure you as the type to frequent thrift shops," Hayato said as the woman climbed out of the car, and stood up straight, her height well in between the two siblings. "You were following us, weren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," she answered, both Hayato and Kazuko surprised at how forward she was being. "I guess I should just be straight with you. I'm looking for a pair of children to adopt as my own kids, and I think that the two of you would be perfect."

Neither of the two siblings was able to respond past that. Despite it being an interesting proposition, the fact remained it was more than a little sudden. Without any words being spoken, the brother and sister, along with Hayato's Toxicroak, turned around on one foot and began walking away, the woman glaring at them with a shocked look.

"Hey, come on, what's the big deal?" she asked, both Hayato and Kazuko not turning around to face her, or even honor another word to her. "I've been watching the two of you since I heard about this amazing brother-sister duo that everybody in Coumarine City knew about, and that was two months ago."

"And you thought that was perfectly natural and in no way creepy at all?" Hayato asked, the woman easily seeing her big mistake. "Seriously, though, why do you need to adopt the both of us. I've had several people come and try to adopt Kazuko from me. Let's face it, she's brilliant, popular, well-liked, not bad-looking," he said, his sister blushing slightly. "And she knows how to take care of herself. What use do you have for me?"

"Honestly, I never thought much of you," she said. "You're pretty bland as a person. You protect your sister and you train pokémon. At first, I thought that that was all there was to you until I saw you two today," she said with an evil smirk. "You have quite the secret, there, _Hoshino-sensei,_" she said, Hayato groaning given he had been found out by a person outside of his and his sister's situation.

"In other words, if I don't go along with this, you expose my identity to everybody?" Hayato asked, the woman not answering, but instead shrugged her shoulders.

"I need you specifically for two reasons," she said. "First off, I know that Kazuko-san wouldn't go anywhere if her big brother wasn't there to protect her. No matter how much she doesn't always want you to protect her," she said, Kazuko blushing again, Hayato already knowing how overbearing he could be. "Second, I have a specific plan for both of you, and it involves your talents in the two things people care about; academics and pokémon. About ten miles outside of the main part of Lumiose City, there's a school for high-risk students, kids whose parents are well known in certain parts of industry and the rest of the world."

"So you want to adopt us to send us to a special school?" Kazuko asked.

"Essentially," the woman answered. "The school is divided into two specific sections. The first is for academics like your sister. These students are all well-behaved, and every single teacher is screened to make sure that they are all safe. The second is for trainers like you, Hayato-san. The school has all grades from junior high to high school classes, and there are special dorm rooms for family members. You'll be well taken care of, and you won't have to worry about your well-being for a long time."

"General rule of thumb," Hayato started. "If it's too good to be true, it probably is. What do you get from all of this?"

"Well, for starters, my family name in that school forever," she answered. "Having a student go through that program immortalizes your name in either of the two basic subjects. Also, I'd be adopting Kazuko-san as my eventual heir to my company, and you as head of security, so you are able to protect your sister for the rest of your life."

"If I agree, you have to promise me one other thing," Hayato said, the woman looked at him strangely, as did Kazuko, not sure why her brother would agree to this in the first place. "You have to promise to never act as though you know us. To me, you're nothing but an opportunist. Somebody that uses things only to their advantage for a short while, and then moves on to the next thing. Those are another kind of people I hate. If you want me to do this, we will accept your name, but you can never interfere with our lives again, do you understand?"

"It's as clear as crystal," she said. "My name is Reiko Hoshino, do we have a deal?" she asked, Hayato narrowing his eyes on the woman, ironically having the same last name as his penname.

"Deal," he said sternly, their new stepmother showing them into the car, signaling the driver to move out after Hayato loaded his bike into the trunk. _"I'm sorry for this, Kazuko," _he said to himself. _"But I promised myself that if I could find you a better life, I would do what it would take in a heartbeat. I can't promise we'll always be happy in this place, but I can promise you that I'll do anything in my power to make you feel loved,"_ he said, taking a seat on the rich leather, his sister beginning to nod off next to him as Toxicroak reentered its pokéball.

"_I'm not sure why you did this, Onii-chan, but I know it's to help make our lives better,"_ Kazuko said, looking at her big brother with a large smile. _"As long as we can stay together for as long as we can, I'm more than happy to try anything,"_ she said, falling limp with her head landing on his arm, Hayato slowly turning to her sleeping face.

"And she constantly wants to be treated like an adult," the older brother said, slowly resting the side of Kazuko's face on his lap. "Sweet dreams, Kazuko. I promise. Onii-chan will always be there to keep you safe…," he said, looking straight forward at the woman who just brought them into her family. _"Especially from her…"_

* * *

Characters:

Hayato and Kazuko Hoshino: Toxicroak, other Pokémon TBA. NightFall00

* * *

Pennames: Obviously, Hayato uses a penname when he writes his romance novels, under the name Sakura Hoshino, and most of us know Sakura to be a female name, if not a female sounding name. This deals with the fact that people in Japan are fairly stereotypical about what a person should be like given their work. This normally translates into people thinking that romantic novelists or Shoujo manga artists are all gentle, beautiful women. Let's face it, in any country, judging by appearance is how we meet people, and chances are most of them don't always match up with what we think.

* * *

Prologue complete. To be honest, there are parts of this, I thought I could do better on, like introducing Hayato's name earlier on, but I couldn't think of a natural way to bring it into being. Hopefully you guys like it, and this story delves into something that I really do like, and that is family ties. As you know, in HDD, I have introduced several family members of the main characters, and I love every chapter dealing with them, even if a few people thought Kaname's chapter was a bit over the top. I am very close with my own family, and that goes especially for my younger brother. The older brother-younger sister pair is something a lot of manga and anime deal in, and it's something we all like to read about because we usually have siblings. This is also the first story to not have a Japanese title, so I'm taking a bit of a stretch with this story in several ways. I hope you liked it, and again, the information for submitting a character is on my profile, and I am NOT accepting reservations. If you want one, you actually have to make one.


	2. Chapter 1: Hoshino

So, before I lose you all in this, I guess I should get this train going off the tracks. Since it's Spring Break I should have quite a bit of free time, in theory. I have to do some stuff for school still if I want to get my teacher certification, and I have to get a physical to send to Japan, so hopefully I'll still be able to write. So far, people seem to like the story, and I think it's because we can mostly relate to the ties between close siblings. I love my entire family, and we all have our little quirks, which makes it ironic that I'm the weird, or "the middle child out of four." Anyway, I have gotten some amazing characters, and I can't wait to introduce them to you. I am aware that the premise of this story is a bit odd, but that's really how anime works. Random encounters with seemingly impossible situations, so hopefully you can appreciate that much of it.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMONE, BECAUSE IF I DID, DUNSPARCE WOULD PROBABLY EVOLVE.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Hoshino

Novelist Marcel Proust once wrote, "Words do not change their meanings so drastically in the course of centuries as, in our minds, names do the course of a year or two." The inherent meaning of a name is based on what we want it to mean. For some people, taking a name literally, and translating it gives off this specific meaning. For other people, it's all about who was given the name that determines the meaning. Relating names to certain ideas, patterns, or events can often lead to many people getting the wrong impression about the meaning of a name. In times of great tragedy, a name is given to a villain. In times of great triumph, a name is given to a hero. There is no evil in any one name, there is only evil in the minds of people who decide that they carry this darkness. These people are afraid of what happened, and provide what debaters call "false cause." Relating two separate events, and attempting to show how the two can be connected. There is a name in Japanese called "Akuma" that has been outlawed because it can be written with the kanji to mean "devil." People only accept things as they are shown, and now how they are truly are. The evil that forces this is called "ignorance."

* * *

With the sound of a nearby chirping and the blinding rays from the rising sunlight, a pair of pale blue eyes shot open, cringing at the sudden sight. Lifting his head from the pillow underneath it, Hayato's hair flopped back down so the front fell back in front of his right eye, his entire body stiff. With every move he made, a loud popping sound could be heard from his joints as he groaned in satisfaction after his spine did the same. Letting out a relieved sigh, Hayato looked around the room he was in, still not used to the new settings.

It'd been a week since he and his sister, Kazuko, were approached by a woman named Reiko Hoshino, a business woman in charge of several companies. To his knowledge, all she wanted was for them to adopt her family name, and go through a school program that they'd be entering that day, that way her name could be plastered just about everywhere. Her other objective was for Kazuko to become an eventual heir to her business franchise, something her brother didn't seem to agree with, but given the perks, he'd be able to live with it for a while.

Having not changed out of his normal clothes after getting out of the bath from last night, all Hayato had to do was grab his jacket, swinging it over his shoulders and back. With another loud pop and groan from Hayato, his shoulder fell back into place as he was finally able to relax. Just before leaving the room that rivaled the size of his old apartment, or anyone's apartment for that matter, Hayato could hear a series of slow footsteps coming towards his room.

"_Somebody kill me,"_ he said to himself, opening the door just as the stepping stopped. "Anything I can help you with, Karin-san?" he asked, a young woman, probably in her twenties, standing in the doorway wearing a full maid's outfit.

"Hoshino-sama, it is my duty to prepare you for today," she said, her cold, soulless eyes staring directly into Hayato's face as the door began to close in her face. "This is not allowed," she said, stopping the door with a single finger, Hayato looking down at it almost afraid. "Please, allow me to fulfill my duties," she said, lifting her head up to face him, a small glint in her eye.

"Why do I feel like this doesn't end well for me no matter what?" Hayato asked, the young woman pushing on the door as though nothing were blocking it, launching Hayato from where he stood, and over onto the large, king-sized bed. _"This person can't be human."_

"Did you sleep well, Hoshino-sama?" Karin asked, her short brown hair shading the side of her face facing Hayato as she began to walk around the room. "I must ask if you truly feel it is wise to continue sleeping on the floor instead of utilizing what my mistress has provided for you."

"I've been sleeping on a futon for ten years," Hayato answered. "Kazuko and I used to share one, so sue me for finding it just a bit more comfortable," he said, getting off the bed, letting Karin do her job, straightening out the covers. "I figured you could understand that much."

"I do," Karin answered, looking directly at Hayato with the same dead face. "I am deeply moved by your nostalgia and your devotion to your sister."

"_Tell your face,"_ Hayato said silently. _"Still, Karin-san is a good worker, I'll give her that much. She does whatever she's told to do, and doesn't ask too many questions. But with that face, she looks more and more like a robot than a human. And with how she always finds a way to force that door open, my theory is justified,"_ he said, seeing a large dent from where Karin had forced the door open.

"Kazuko-sama seemed to be very excited about today," Karin noted, Hayato listening more attentively since the subject had changed to his sister. "Although, she too prefers to sleep on the floor in a futon like you. I find it refreshing," she said, the emotion in her words not translating to her expression. "It helps me remember that the two of you are related," she said, Hayato looking like he was just struck with a hundred pound wait. "Breakfast is ready downstairs," she said, bowing to Hayato as she left his room.

Finally alone again, Hayato looked down towards the floor, having heard that statement more than a few times in his life since his parent's died. And it was true; he and his sister didn't share too many traits. Aside from hair and eye color, Hayato was a much more abrasive and scary person while his sister was cute, well-liked, and incredibly smart as opposed to him. In the beginning, Hayato never thought he was that different from Kazuko, and even if he was, why did it matter? No matter where they went, or who they became, they would always be siblings.

* * *

Walking down the multiple staircases down to the first floor where the dining table was, Hayato combed as much of his hair as he could with his hand, and looked down at the very end of the table. Happily munching at all the different food items, the smile on Kazuko's face was enough to bring one to her brother's. Even if she didn't always like it, Kazuko had grown more accustomed to her new life than Hayato did.

"Ah, good morning, Onii-chan," Kazuko said happily, going straight back to her food. "Karin-san is so amazing with cooking, I wish I could eat her food forever. Your food is always really salty, Onii-chan," she said, Hayato flicking her on the forehead.

"Be grateful I didn't load it up with chili powder instead," Hayato said, grabbing a bowl of rice. "I take it my pokémon are also getting a bit more used to having this quality of food?" he asked, Kazuko nodding furiously. "Well, at least I have some solace in coming here. On the plus side, we'll be living in a dorm building, so it'll be like it usually is between the two of us," he said, hearing a small cough from behind them, Karin holding her fist to her mouth.

"My apologies in disappointing you, Hoshino-sama, but my mistress has requested me to accompany both you and Kazuko-sama to your new lodging to better care for the both of you," the young woman said, Hayato's head slumping down past his shoulders. "And there is no fighting a direct order from my mistress," she said, placing her hand directly on top of his head, the enormous pressure from a mere pat almost sending Hayato face first into the table.

"You two get along so well, don't you?" Kazuko asked, both Hayato and Karin glaring directly at her, knowing it was nothing more than innocence. "Oh, by the way, Onii-chan, I got my school uniform today," she said, standing up, twirling around on one foot. "What do you think?"

"Well, it's cleaner than your old one, I can say that much," Hayato said jokingly, seeing the school uniform for the junior high students was surprisingly similar to what Kazuko used to wear, the sailor uniform instead being white and blue with a red scarf. "Still, you look good in just about anything, Kazuko. And just keep in mind, if any guys start talking to you, you know who to call," he said, standing up and cracking his knuckles as he went out the door.

"He really cares for you, doesn't he?" Karin asked, clearing the table of the trainer's dishes.

"Yeah, but I wish he'd worry about himself for once," Kazuko said. "He once spent three days doing nothing but writing to meet his deadline, and afterwards he came down with a huge fever, and couldn't do anything for a week. He treats me like a child, and yet I'm usually the one to take care of him," she said, folding her arms as Karin showed off a small smile.

"People are often aware of the decisions they make, and the consequences that come with it," she said in reply. "Your brother obviously loves to write, doesn't he?" she asked, Kazuko nodding once. "How did he get started as the mysterious Sakura Hoshino?" she asked as Kazuko looked upwards, thinking about the day that Hayato's secret identity came into being.

* * *

"_Onii-chan, what're you doing?"_ a young Kazuko asked as Hayato, younger by three years as well, sat in front of a desk, an old, cheap computer screen staring back at him. _"Is this your new book? What did you call it?"_ she asked excitedly, looking at the title. _"Why would you write a book called 'Love that Spans Time?'"_

"_Hey, do I ask you why you always try to steal me hat?"_ Hayato said, quickly snatching the blue ski cap from the top of her head. _"Besides, action writing or adventure stuff isn't as easy to write. Slow moving romance is the only thing I can write right now with some measureable skill. My only problem is that with my name, the readers might not take me seriously. I've gotta come up with a penname to sell this story as."_

"_Penname?" _Kazuko asked. _"Why can't you take credit for this? You've always been good with words, so it shouldn't matter what your name is. I really like your name, it sounds cool!"_

"_Thanks, Kazuko, but it's not that simple,"_ Hayato said, picking her up, and placing her on his lap. _"See, when people read romance novels, they expect it to be a very handsome man writing it, or a very beautiful woman. Not a fourteen year old kid with four pokémon and a younger sister. While it shouldn't matter that my name is Hayato, the fact is, it does. So I need to come up with a name that makes me sound like a grown man or a woman. What do you think?"_

"_Hmm,"_ Kazuko said as she began thinking, looking up at the sky from their window, seeing the twinkling stars high above them. _"I think Hoshino is a pretty last name. People like looking at stars, so maybe they'd like to look at your book if, you write your name with 'star.'"_

"_Well, that's one name, but I still a new given name for this author,"_ Hayato said as Kazuko began thinking again, letting out the same sound as before.

"_I also like the name Sakura!"_ she said excitedly. _"I thought that if you were my sister and not my brother, I'd want you to be named Sakura."_

"_Hmm, alright! From now on, I'll write books and stories as Sakura Hoshino!" _Hayato declared, quickly standing up, putting Kazuko on his shoulders, both of them cheering loudly. _"Now it looks like you have a big brother _and_ a big sister."_

"_Then, can I call you Onee-chan, instead?"_ Kazuko asked, both she and Hayato bursting into laughter as they continued cheering around the small apartment room. After that day, Hayato turned in his work to a publishing office, and his monthly narratives continued for the years leading up to when they met Reiko Hoshino, Kazuko smiling at how much fun the two used to have, still remembering the way that Hayato carried her around on his shoulders, despite being only four years older. It was like a way of taking over both a father and mother type role.

* * *

"I guess my brother's always had a reason to write," Kazuko said, back in present time, Karin looking at her strangely as the younger of the two siblings pushed out her chair and smiled back at their maid. "Thanks for the food, Karin-san. We better get moving, I don't want to be late for my first day," she said, the maid nodding, still looking at her quite strangely.

As the main part of Lumiose City began to disappear, Hayato looked back, still able to see the very top of the iconic tower that sat in the very center of the city. It was the first time for either of the two siblings to be in such a big city, so it was an experience they weren't going to forget. However, as they travelled across the roads leading directly outside of the city, another sight caught the trainer's eye. They had only been travelling for about twenty minutes, so Hayato could easily tell this was the place their stepmother was talking about.

It looked like a city unto itself, albeit a rather old one, the shape of the lampposts, the paving of the road, and even the design of the buildings and shops were vintage and antiquated. Having been able to travel throughout most of Kalos, Hayato found the place to be a lot like Aquacorde Town. Despite it being an entire school area, none of the people walking alongside the expensive car carrying the three new inhabitants found it strange.

"This is pretty amazing, isn't it, Onii-chan?" Kazuko asked, looking outside the tinted windows at the different kinds of people, all shapes and sizes, but as she looked, she couldn't find anyone else with a mark similar to the one on her brother's hat. "Um, Karin-san, I thought half of the students would be trainers like Onii-chan."

"You misunderstand, Kazuko-sama," Karin said, sitting in between the two of them, and looking directly straight, Hayato leaning over away from her out of sheer discomfort. "This school is exclusive to privately trained individuals who are proficient enough with their pokémon to match some of the strongest gym leaders in the Kalos Region. Only a small number of trainers are ever accepted at any one time. Counting Hoshino-sama, I believe my mistress was told there would be a total of twelve trainers this year."

While Kazuko was left stunned with this information, Hayato didn't react, and instead grinned. The thought of being able to train against a group that exclusive and powerful made part of this whole situation worthwhile.

* * *

As the car came to a full stop, the other students now took more of an interest in who was stepping out, not recognizing the specific car that had pulled up to the front. As the driver held open the door, half of the male students watching quickly froze in place as Kazuko stepped out, her long, black hair flowing behind her in the wind. As she thanked the driver, taking her bag from him, the students watching her were quickly captivated by her voice and how innocent it was. As she turned around, she noticed the others watching, flashing them a wide smile and a friendly wave, a good number of them falling over.

After many of them regained their composure, the other door opened, and most of the people watching became hopeful for another beautiful girl, a large hand gripping the very top of the door to pull himself out. After seeing Hayato pull out his face, the other students immediately noticed his hat, and the unmistakable design on it. As he turned to them, the single eye visible glared coldly at each of the guys that was eyeing Kazuko. Giving a quick clench of his right hand, all of Hayato's knuckles cracked at the same time, the sound reverberating in the ears of almost every male student, and they all heard the same thing: "BACK OFF!"

"It seems nice here, Onii-chan," Kazuko said, nobody in the crowd around them believing the two were siblings. "Karin-san, is Onii-chan going to have to go far to reach where he needs to go?"

"Don't worry about me, Kazuko," Hayato said. "Karin-san, I know I don't have as much authority as that old witch, but do me this one favor," he said, turning around so Kazuko could see his face. "Keep her safe," he said beginning to walk away. "I'll see you back in the room tonight, Kazuko!" he called out to her, Kazuko waving at him as she disappeared into the building. _"Please be careful."_

Turning back around towards the crowd, Hayato noticed some of the other male students looking back over at Kazuko through the windows of the school building. Cracking his neck with a single motion, the small group felt a good chill running down their spines, forcing them to turn around. With his shadow casting over all three of them, Hayato's eyes narrowed directly on them, his face slowly coming directly in front of theirs.

"This is the part where you run away," he said ominously, the two on either side of the center quickly running in opposite directions away, the third merely losing consciousness. "Now why did that feel so good?"

"Perhaps because you can't help but find pleasure in scaring people?" a voice from behind asked as Hayato lifted his head up, and turned around. "Guess they didn't tell you about me, huh? Well, let's get this over with. I'm the teacher in charge of all the trainers that are in this place. Kasumi Miyamoto," the woman said, holding out her hand in greeting as Hayato took it. "Well, I guess you should just follow me so I can get back to sleep."

"I take it you don't do much around here," Hayato noticed.

"I've got a total of twelve students who're smart enough to not call their parents whenever something bad happens," the teacher answered, scratching her golden colored hair as she stretched her back out. "Makes my job pretty easy considering what the others have to go through. Any questions about the school are supposed to be asked to me, but I trust you're all smart enough to read the student handbook."

"_My kind of teacher,"_ Hayato said, remembering every other teacher he had had when he was back in school. They all were like drill sergeants to him and had absolutely no confidence in the students around them. Even if this Kasumi was just being lazy, she at least could trust the others to make good decisions.

"I take it the cutie is your little sis, huh?" Kasumi asked as she looked back into the windows of the main school building, many of the other students watching Kazuko as closely as possible. "I guess we all know who's got the good looks in the family."

"I consider it a compliment," Hayato responded. "I just hope she'll be alright. Even if Kazuko knows which people to steer clear of, she's still just a naïve child. The chances of her being able to tell when somebody's lying is slim enough as it is. Now she's with a bunch of rick kids…don't get much more dishonest than that."

Kasumi slowly smirked at how Hayato was worried more about his sister, and less about himself when it came to the school. He wasn't that much different from the other trainers she was placed in charge of. He was strong willed, he knew what he wanted, and he was willing to do something about what he wanted instead of just sit on it. Even if not all of the students in the academic section were like that, she knew that the vast majority usually had things handed to them rather than having to do things themselves.

"You're going to be an interesting addition to the trainer's department," she said cryptically, Hayato not quite understanding her thought process. "He use the older school buildings to house the trainers in this dump because if you trash something there, you don't have to pay for it. Not like the people here have much trouble with that."

"At least your being honest," Hayato said, both of them walking with a slight slump in their posture, almost at eye level to each, the student just a few inches taller than his teacher.

"There are a few other things you should know about, but I don't think I should have to be the one to explain everything to you," she said, letting out a huge yawn directly after. "You can let your teammates give you the skinny on what goes on around here," she said, Hayato focusing more on the word "teammate" than anything else.

* * *

Still fixating on the idea of a student, or group, being his "teammates," Hayato stopped as soon as Kasumi did, overlooking a rather run down building. It's not that it was necessarily falling apart, but more than it was just old. There were vines growing all along the walls of the building, spiraling and overlapping each other like the ground was trying to pull the building inside of it. Unlike the rest of the buildings, this one was rather modern, and just didn't have the same atmosphere to it. Letting out another yawn showing she really didn't care, Kasumi waved goodbye to Hayato, and left him where he stood, seeing that she had slipped him a piece of paper.

Looking down at it, Hayato read two names, the first was a girl's name, "Yukino Hayabusa," but the second was a bit harder to tell. "Hinata Hourai;" Hayato had met several people named Hinata when he was doing his actual training, and they could've been both male or female. Quite frankly he didn't really care about the gender of somebody, but if there was one thing he didn't like, it was not knowing.

Pushing the door open, Hayato simply froze in place, wondering how this was considered an older building on the school grounds. Sure, the outside was covered in vines and looked like it was ready to be condemned. But the inside was spotless, not even so much as a speck of dust on any of the surfaces, Hayato almost tripping on the completely polished hardwood.

"There's obviously some kind of disconnect I'm not getting yet, isn't there?" he questioned, almost losing his footing again, looking at the different doorways, seeing them all labeled with three names apiece. "Guess this is why that lazy-bum teacher gave me two other names. I wonder what she meant by teammates, though. With twelve trainers in total, and three people in a single classroom, it gets you thinking, but at the same time, it could mean anything."

Turning to the very last door at the end of the hallway, of course, Hayato found the two names written on the piece of paper, matching them to the ones on the door label. Without a second thought, Hayato pulled the door open, and poked his head inside, initially seeing no one, but felt a light pop on the top of his head. With a cloud of dust forming around his head, Hayato walked into the room completely, and looked down next to him.

"And here I thought only children played that kind of prank," Hayato said, picking up a chalkboard eraser off the ground that was originally wedged into between the door and the wall. "A pretty immature gesture, that's for sure."

"Hey! I heard that!" a voice suddenly rang out from the very back of the classroom, Hayato turning to face whoever was up there, even the older classroom fashioned so its seats were raised like a lecture hall. "That prank took me quite a while to get right, so you should be giving me a better reaction!" they continued, jumping up from their hiding spot into full view.

"I'm guessing you'd be Hayabusa," Hayato noticed, the girl looking down at him surprised. "I'm just going to make that assumption because I'm not sure if Hourai is a boy or a girl just yet."

"I assure you, I am all man," a second voice said, this one smoother, and oozing with charisma. "Yukino-chan's pranks are pretty childish, but that's what makes her so cute, don't you agree?" he asked, Hayato not quite sure how to respond to either of these people. "Ah, it pains my heart that she still has not responded to my feelings. Come Yukino-chan, let's show the world what our love is like," he said, jumping out with his arms outstretched towards the girl, only to be punched directly in the gut.

"Putting that idiot aside for now," Yukino said, the boy presumably named Hinata twitching on the ground underneath her foot. "You guessed right, I am Yukino Hayabusa, third year junior high student, and the best trickster in the school. And the corpse over here is Hinata Hourai."

"Number one ladies man in the school," Hinata said, instantly recovering from Yukino's punch. "You've got quite the unseemly face. I'm sure someone of my talents must be too extraordinary for you to comment on, seeing as you've said nothing since seeing me."

It was true, Hayato was speechless, but for every reason besides what Hinata thought. The two were fairly normal looking people for the most part, and it wasn't as if either of them was that over the top.

* * *

Yukino had a slender body frame with a fair skin tone, standing well below either Hayato just below five and a half feet. Her hair was a similar length and color to Kazuko's, that same silky black color, however, Yukino's only went to the middle of her back, while Kazuko's trailed past her waist. Her eyes certainly intrigued Hayato, the emerald colored irises beaming down at him with a large smile on her face, neither happy nor malicious. Compared to the other people he's seen so far, Yukino dressed fairly casually, wearing a dark blue vest over a black shirt, a pair of purple colored jeans and black sneakers. Around her head, though, was what really caught Hayato's attention; a red colored bandana with the regular pokéball design in black.

* * *

"I wouldn't say that much," Hayato said, finally looking over at Hinata. "Some people are just too annoying to comment on," he said, Hinata looking as though he were stabbed in the heart, turning into stone before the other two's eyes.

* * *

Hinata was a bit less normal than Yukino, that's for sure, but it wasn't as much as Hayato was expecting. He was about average height, putting him in between Yukino and Hayato, and his skin was, I guess you could say, the perfect complexion. His build was fairly thin, but he seemed athletic enough in his own right. His hair was a near blood red color, and it was obviously styled, the strands combed just over his similar shaded eyes. Hayato had to admit, the boy was charming in his own way. He dressed more conductively to the setting, a loose jacket, a lot like the kind the other students wore in a light blue color, a darker colored shirt underneath with a pair of black slacks and brown leather shoes. Around his neck was a silver chain, the pokéball design proving him as a trainer easily seen.

* * *

"I'm not sure it's fair that you know who we are when we don't," Yukino said, Hinata regaining consciousness as Hayato let out a loud sigh.

"I'm Hayato Hoshino," he said, the two of them looking down surprised at the sound of his last name. "I guess with my age, I'd be a second year high school student. And that's probably all you need to know about me for now," he said, about to walk towards one of the desks in the very front row, but was quickly held back by both people. "Something I can help you with?"

"Did you say 'Hoshino'?" Hinata asked, Hayato hesitantly nodding at him. "As in 'Sakura Hoshino'?" he asked, Hayato taking in a sharp breath. "That woman is an amazing author. You've got to be related to her, and if so, could you introduce me?"

"I don't know, Hoshino isn't that unique a name," Hayato said, trying to stand up, but was quickly brought back down by Yukino.

"Her writing is amazing!" she said excitedly. "All the students here read her novels! The way she writes the romance between her characters is so fluid, I didn't even mind it when it was between two girls," she said, Hayato remembering that particular one-shot story…not one of his finer moments. "Ah, I want to meet her some day. Anyone with the name Hoshino must be getting talked to about being related to Hoshino-sensei."

At that, Hayato quickly stood up, ignoring Yukino trying to push him back down. As the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together in front of his eyes, Hayato quickly realized what having the name Hoshino meant for Kazuko. Without any words, Hayato quickly ran out of the room, and slid across the polished floors to the end of the older school building.

"What got into him?" Hinata asked, Yukino shrugging her shoulders. "We're following him, right?" he asked, Yukino smacking him upside the head. "Just wanted to make sure."

* * *

Running like a madman throughout most of the campus, a large cloud dust following after him, Hayato's moved his legs and arms in unison as the larger school building came into view, not even noticing Hinata or Yukino coming up behind him. Both of the younger students were visibly exhausted, Hayato having much more natural athletic talent than either. Instead, Yukino reached onto her belt, and pulled out a red and white capsule like Hayato had before.

After reaching the front of the school, Hayato screeched into a halt in front of it, and ran directly for the door, but quickly tripped, and fell flat onto his face. Looking back behind him, he found his ankles had been bound together, a thin thread keeping them both joined together. Something else was on the thread as well as soon as Hayato tried to grab them. A sudden jolt of electricity was sent through the thread directly into his hands.

"How can you run so fast?" he could hear Yukino ask, seeing the two younger students coming up from behind him, Hinata trying to maintain his composure, but couldn't help but pant from the sprint. "It's a good thing Galvantula's a lot faster than either of us," she said, Hayato looking straight up at the pediment in front of the school, a large yellow arachnid pokémon waving one of its many arms at him.

"I got caught by a bug?" Hayato asked, a large vein in Galvantula's head spontaneously popping in anger as it fell back to the ground, and began growling at the older trainer. "Please, I battled pokémon like you as _pre-_warm-up," he taunted, Galvantula's head twitching almost uncontrollably as it began to creep closer and closer to Hayato.

"You don't have to go that far," Yukino said, pulling the yellow spider back. "What are you thinking, anyway?" she asked, turning her attention to Hayato. "Trainer's aren't allowed in the academic school buildings without a reason, or unless you're like him, and his family is on the board of directors," she said, pointing back at Hinata, waving with a big smile. "What's so important, and why did you run out the minute I talked about your name."

"My sister," Hayato said, pulling his ankles apart, quickly ripping the threads with Galvantula looking like one of its own children was destroyed. "_I_ have a hard time with large crowds of people. I need to make sure she's okay before I can feel satisfied."

"You have a sister?" Hinata asked, quickly sliding underneath Yukino and up the side of Hayato. "Did I ever tell you how much of a good looker you are? You obviously are a man who gets a lot of respect from where you live, and I'm sure your sister is just as attractive."

"Save it, playboy," Hayato said, gripping onto the sides of Hinata's head with a single hand and clenching on it as hard as he could. "And if you think somebody like you is getting with a foot of my sister, you've got another thing coming."

"I think I know what part of it might be," Hinata said as Hayato released him. "I'll say this, though, you're definitely a proper brother for your sister if you act like that towards everyone who tries to get close to her."

"Flattery gets you nowhere," Hayato said, Hinata snapping his fingers in frustration. "Is there any other way that I can check up on her at all?" he asked, turning his attention towards Yukino.

"Well, you can try scaling the wall until you find her class, but-," Yukino started to say as a joke, but was cut off by Hayato speeding past her. "He's not serious," she tried to tell herself, running around to the other side of the school building, Hayato rubbing his hands together to create more friction, gripping onto a window frame. "Galvantula, stop him," she said flatly, the electric and bug mix shooting a single thread from its mouth, wrapping around Hayato's torso.

Quickly, Hinata and Yukino both grabbed onto the thread, and pulled as hard as they could, pulling Hayato back down to the ground. With him not facing straight up, both Yukino and Hinata stared down at him, each with a large grin on their faces. With a single snap from its trainer, Galvantula sent a stream of electricity through the thread, covering Hayato's entire body with lightning. Several seconds later, Hayato was left unconscious, his head twitching.

* * *

Waking up about an hour later, Hayato found himself back in the older lecture hall, Hinata seated behind him, and Yukino's Galvantula off to his side. As he looked at both of them, Hayato tried to find a way out, but knew that even if it was a bug pokémon, it was still faster than him.

"Now, since you're awake, it's time to start your private lesson," Yukino said, acting like an overbearing teacher, Hayato's annoyance apparent in the small twinge of his eyebrow, seeing her standing in the very front with a pointer and a pair of glasses. "There are rules in this school pertaining to trainers in particular. First and foremost, we're not allowed to enter the other school building without an official reason. Second, during class time for the other students, we have to either stay in our assigned rooms, or do jobs for the school."

"Jobs?" Hayato asked.

"Odd jobs that the teachers don't want to do basically," Hinata elaborated. "It usually has to deal with breaking up fights between students, or do some kind of stuff to keep the school safe. It can get kind of annoying, but in the end, the ladies love a man who can work with his own two hands," he said with a large, cheesy grin, Hayato giving him a quick backhand to the stomach.

"Also, the fact that you've joined our team means that the Trainer Wars can finally begin!" Yukino suddenly declared.

"Trainer Wars?" Hayato repeated, looking down at Hinata, expecting an explanation, but only saw him cringing on the ground, holding his abdomen in pain.

"The Trainer Wars are an all year long event throughout the school," Yukino explained. "Since there are twelve of us this year, we have teams of three. They put us into random groups, and me and Hinata-kun just got unlucky and had two. Since you came, Hayato-kun, it's gonna be much easier to compete in the battles."

"At any rate, what does this whole thing actually entail?" Hayato asked.

"All throughout the year, the trainer's are going to participate in different kinds of events throughout the school, and that earns them points depending on how well they do," she said, going back into her teacher-mode as she refitted her fake glasses. "Whoever gets the most points as we get to the end of the year can choose the format for the actual battle tournament that they hold as the actual Trainer War, and as our final exams."

"Our midterm exams are also a mini-version of this," Hinata said, stumbling as he returned to the surface. "They'll match us up in two on two battles with a random opponent, and based on how skillfully we battle, that's how we get graded. It makes this school a lot more fun for trainers."

"Fascinating," Hayato said, pretending to be interested in what they were saying. "So, this is what Miyamoto-sensei meant when she talked about the two of you being 'teammates.' Didn't think she meant it so literally. Well, at any rate, I've heard good things about the trainers here, so I have no reason to doubt your strength," he said, standing up straight, beginning to walk towards the end of the doorway, Galvantula jumping up, and stopping him from leaving.

"You may be comfortable with our strength," Yukino started. "But we're not with yours," she said, Hayato knowing exactly what she wanted. "You can either battle me or Hinata-kun. Take your pick, unless you're scared," she said with a large smile, Hayato's face curling into a smile, his hands trembling out of sheer frustration.

"I'd take on both of you if I could, but since you've already shown me how much you can do with this pokémon, how about I battle you, playboy?" Hayato said, a smile appearing on Hinata's face as he interlaced his fingers and pulled them down, cracking his knuckles in one shot.

"Sounds interesting," he said. "How about we make things a bit more interesting, then?" he asked, Hayato looking at him confused.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the academic section of the school, Kazuko let out a large sigh of relief as her classes ended for the day. Most of her class trying their hardest to get to know her, while also dodging her ever-present guardian, Karin. As she stuffed her books into her bag, the younger of the Hoshino siblings looked up from her desk and saw that everybody seemed to be moving fairly quickly. Stuffing items into their bags as fast as they could, some students even running down the halls, two other girls from her class walking right up to her desk.

"Hey, Kazuko-chan, did you hear?" one of them asked. "Two of the pokémon trainers are going to have a battle for us to watch. We haven't gotten to see one yet, so we're really excited."

"Really?" Kazuko asked, wondering if it was going to be her brother battling.

"I heard that they got their twelfth trainer today, and that Hinata-sama is going to be battling him to see if he can measure up," the second one said, Kazuko wondering who Hinata was. "You know what I heard? The new guy in the trainer section is supposed to be really scary. They say he can make you freeze in place with just a single look. It sounds really creepy."

"_That's my Onii-chan,"_ Kazuko said as Karin tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Kazuko-sama, do you wish to watch your brother battle today?" she asked, her stoic face still not changing expression, the two girls looking at Kazuko in shock.

"Yeah, let's go watch Onii-chan!" she said happily, the two jaws of the girls in front of them dropping in shock at learning who Kazuko was related to, still not moving as the two ran through the door, and slammed it shut. "I wonder which one of his pokémon Onii-chan will fight with today?" she wondered, Karin letting go of her hand, making Kazuko look behind her. "Karin-san? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing really," Karin said. "There's just something I need to take care of first, so if you just follow the rest of the students, you'll be able to reach the auditorium fairly easily. My apologies, Kazuko-sama," she said, bowing to her before turning back around, Kazuko watching her carefully as she calmly disappeared into the crowd of people.

* * *

Inside the gymnasium of the school itself, everybody in the stands was chattering about the battle, some of them holding up banners embroidered with Hinata's name, Kazuko easily sickened by her classmate's reactions. As she looked down from the stands onto the floor, she found that it was more like a professional arena. The stands made a half dome shape to keep the pokémon attacks from hitting any of the spectators, and a small fence protruding past that to keep the pokémon from going into the stands. The fact this school would go so far for a handful of students was what really surprised Kazuko, but having her brother get those kinds of things, it was satisfying for her.

"Hey, Kazuko-chan," one of her classmates started, shifting her attention. "Is it true, your brother is the new trainer in Hinata-sama's team?" she asked, Kazuko nodding despite not knowing the full answer. "Then, he must be a very good looking person if you're his sister."

"Well, some people aren't quite sure about that, but he is an amazing battler," she responded. "Just last week he saved me and entire store of people from a gang member. His pokémon are really strong, and he had to stop training for a few years too," she said, the girls around her wondering why she was so fixated on her brother like she was.

"Ah, it's starting!" somebody shouted, both trainers stepping out into the small battlefield, Hinata waving happily to everyone as the cheers grew louder. At the exact same time, both Kazuko and Hayato covered their ears, Hinata blowing kisses to the crowd, some of the girls around Kazuko fainting from the stress.

After Hinata made his way to the far end of the stadium, the attention in the room shifted towards Hayato, those that hadn't seen him, watching him, almost shocked at his appearance. To the left of him, people could see the cold look in his eye, and how easily it chilled them to the bone from a single glance. To the right, people couldn't see anything past his hair, wondering how good of a trainer he actually was if he was hiding like that. Without saying anything, Hayato took the first few steps into the stadium and took his place.

"Go get 'em, Onii-chan!" Kazuko suddenly shouted, everyone taken aback by how loud she was, Hayato chuckling, giving her a thumbs-up.

"So that's your little sister, huh?" Hinata questioned, Hayato instantly focusing on him again. "She's definitely cute, but let's see how you do in this battle before we talk more about her. I've put you in the kind of situation you'd be in at the end of the school year when he participate in the main tournament. If you can't handle this pressure, you have no place with us."

"They say that a person's bark is worse than their bite," Hayato said in return. "If all you can do is talk, you're not gonna be much of a challenge," he said, grabbing his pokéball, the others in the stadium surprised at how confident he was being.

"Fine, a one on one battle with no time limit," Hinata declared. "Let's start! Mawile, let's go!" he shouted, throwing his pokéball into the air, allowing it to explode open, the small pokémon falling to the ground on its feet with a loud echo.

As the light around it cleared, Hayato looked at the pokémon, a reasonably cute face with a monstrous jaw attached to the back of its head. It looked more like a demonic ponytail than anything, but it was a pokémon he had encounter before, and had already decided which pokémon to send out. Knowing that Kazuko was watching, Hayato threw his all into the air in the same way.

"Toxicroak, engage!" he commanded, Kazuko cheering louder than anyone, almost bringing a small hint of blush on his face as the poison and fighting mix took the field, tapping its foot at its opponent. "Let's begin. Toxicroak, Brick Break!"

At the sound of the order, Toxicroak crouched over onto all four of its limbs, and began bounding back and forth in a zigzag pattern towards Hinata's Mawile. As the shears along its wrists began to shine in a deep bluish brown color, Toxicroak threw its hand into the air, and quickly brought it down in a chopping motion. Time seemed to stop for that second, Toxicroak and Mawile both stuck in their positions. Sucking his teeth in frustration, Hayato folded his arms, the rest of the audience finding Toxicroak's hand stuck in between Mawile's second mouth.

"You thought a straight forward attack like that would stop me?" Hinata asked with a confident smile on his face. "It's gonna take a lot more than that to beat me, Hayato-kun. Mawile, Iron Head!" he ordered, Mawile's jaw tightening its grip on Toxicroak, beginning to swing it round and around in a circle.

With a single loosening of the jaw, Mawile tossed the poison pokémon clear over to other end of the arena, Toxicroak falling to the ground, but able to get back up fairly easily. Still staggering as it stood, Toxicroak looked up, and groaned at the sight of Mawile charging at it with its second jaw swing around like a mace, the entire body of it glowing a spectral white before turning into completely hardened steel. With a single swing forward, the steel and fairy mix threw Toxicroak along the ground, the latter able to place its hands up in defense just before, absorbing some of the damage, but at the same time, still feeling the sting.

"_Geez, I really underestimated this guy,"_ Hayato noticed, the fatigue showing in Toxicroak's muscles apparent as its arms hung limp to its sides. _"This is really the difference between a person like me, and someone who was bred for this kind of life,"_ he said to himself with a wide smirk. _"But that's what makes it interesting."_

"Mawile, let's have some more fun," Hinata said, the sneer on his pokémon's face showing through to everyone, Kazuko still surprised they were that captivated. "Fairy Wind!" he commanded, Mawile suddenly jumping into a handstand with its large horn facing Toxicroak.

Letting loose a giant breath towards its opponent, Mawile's second mouth released a glittering gust of wind, Toxicroak almost mesmerized by the theatrics Mawile was giving. It almost looked like Mawile was dancing during this battle; it made swift, yet elegant movements. The gust of wind blew across the stage, some of the students even being affected by it, sending a shudder down Kazuko's spine. Receiving the entirety of the strike, Toxicroak placed its arms back up in defense, looking up at Hayato, waiting for some kind of command.

"Toxicroak, Brick Break!" he shouted, Toxicroak nodding, as it jumped straight out of the wind stream, Mawile quickly flipping back up to a standing position.

As Toxicroak tumbled through the air, the poison and fighting mix extended its arm out with the attack prepared, making another wide chopping motion. Without even missing a beat, Mawile let out a huge yawn, and simply moved off to the side, Toxicroak's hand impacting with the ground, leaving a large dent, cracks beginning to form where it struck. Yawning in the same way his pokémon, Hinata looked over at Hayato with an expectant look in his eye.

"Man, whoever said wisdom comes with age was a liar," he taunted, his Mawile copying his movements on the battlefield. "You're coming at me with incredibly raw tactics. If that's all you got, you're just gonna be deadweight for both of us," he continued, looking up at the stands where Kazuko was, noticing Yukino taking a seat directly next to her. "I heard rumors about this amazing trainer with a Toxicroak a long time ago. He couldn't be beat, and at the time, he wasn't any older than me, younger in fact. When I saw that Toxicroak, I thought I finally got to battle him. Guess it must've been some other dude. Mawile, let's have some more fun."

As Mawile began another assault of Iron Head attacks on Toxicroak, the poison type barely able to dodge most of them, Kazuko continued to watch with her stomach full of Butterfree. So much so, she didn't even notice another person sitting down next to her, the others around her all shocked to see Yukino watching the battle with her. After one of her classmate's tapped her shoulder and pointed in her direction, Kazuko turned and found Yukino looking at her with her Galvantula still outside of its ball.

"So, you're Kazuko-chan, huh?" she asked, Kazuko nodding, looking at the electric pokémon that happily chattered at her. "Your brother is actually quite the amazing battler," she said, Kazuko looking at her confused given that he'd never even landed a single move on his opponent. "Hinata-kun can normally defeat a pokémon within two moves, but your brother's Toxicroak has lasted for at least ten by now. Hayato-kun's been able to train it in order for it to be able to take a hit," she said, Kazuko watching as Toxicroak began chopping at Mawile with more Brick Break attacks, all of them hitting the ground just after the steel type dodged.

"But he's not doing any damage," Kazuko noticed. "Onii-chan normally can finish a battle in one hit. And his Toxicroak is one of his strongest pokémon ever. I wonder why he's having such a hard time battling that pathetic playboy," she pondered, Yukino trying to stifle her laughter.

"That's exactly what your brother calls Hinata-kun," she said, trying to keep from laughing. "I wondered if the two of you were really related, and I guess I have my answer. But the only reason Hinata-kun may have the advantage is that he doesn't take battles as seriously. He likes to have fun with everything," she said, Kazuko looking down at her brother's opponent, seeing him dance along with his pokémon's movements, the rest of the audience clapping at his performance. "He likes to put on a show for everyone. He's not concerned about winning or losing, and that's why people love him so much. But I don't think Hayato-kun is finished with him yet. Just watch."

* * *

Back down on the battlefield, Toxicroak landed another Brick Break on the ground, most of the battlefield torn up from the failed attacks. As Hayato gritted his teeth, his composure began to falter, Hinata's Mawile still not having sustained any damage. As the artistic steel type finished another twirl through the air, landing on the tip of its toe, the trainer looking at the opposing pokémon, and the amount of fatigue it was now under.

"I'll give you this, you've lasted longer than anyone I've battled so far," he said, almost as though compliment him, but there was still that bit of condescension in his voice. "But this is far below the standard we use for the trainers that battle here. Do you really think that you can win when you have only this much skill?"

"Then just give me one more try," Hayato said. "If I can't land a hit on you in one more try, then I'll forfeit the match," he said, the others in the auditorium surprised as how easily he was either giving up or how much confidence he had in himself. "How about it?"

"Fine, but given your performance so far, it won't matter much," Hinata said, noticing large sneer coming across Toxicroak's face as it jumped back right in front of its trainer. "What?"

"Toxicroak, Earthquake!" he shouted, every eye in the stadium looking in shock at the move he commanded, Toxicroak raising its arms, and then sticking the pointed ends into the earth. "Now!" Hayato ordered, a sudden pulse sent through Toxicroak's arms, and then into the ground, a small rumbling beginning as Yukino quickly grabbed onto Kazuko.

At first, Mawile began to stumble slightly, Hinata commanding it into the air to dodge the vibrations, finding it difficult to stay on his own footing. After twirling back into the air, Mawile looked down at Toxicroak with a confident grin, but soon found itself even more vulnerable. Looking at all sides, Mawile noticed that the Earthquake move was beginning to travel along the cleavage lines created in the cracks all along the stadium. All the failed attempts at Brick Break attacks created some kind of breakage line that the Earthquake could widen.

After realizing this, Mawile began to spin faster, trying to swat of the large heaves of earth that were soon tossed into the air after the intense pressure broke them off. Able to block most of them, Mawile was soon struck from behind on its descent back down to the ground. Unable to recover from the first strike, more of the stones and earth began to bombard the steel pokémon as Toxicroak released the attack, and ran straight into the rubble, a cloud of dust shielding it form view.

As it jumped in between each of the stones still left airborne, a light blue colored sheen appeared in the poison type's fist, Mawile unable to see it from within the debris. Hinata was left just as clueless as he looked through the cloud, and could only see Hayato's face. It was unwavering, strong, and determined; something that brought a grin to his face.

"Toxicroak, Power-Up Punch!" he shouted, Toxicroak rearing its fist back, and then thrust it forward, striking Mawile in its front face, launching it out of the dust cloud, and onto the now incredibly rugged terrain.

As the dust disappeared into the air, Toxicroak stood on a large pile of rubble with Mawile looking up at it with an approving glance. As the fighting type jumped down from its perch, the fatigue in it was still apparent, Hinata looking over at Hayato with a satisfied look. Still, something perplexed him. The idea of being able to use failed attacks with an all encompassing move like Earthquake wasn't something people could think up on the fly. There was more to what Hayato did, and Hinata definitely wanted to know, as did everyone.

"So, tell me, how did you come up with that?" he asked, Hayato taking in a deep breath.

"You gamble," he answered. "With the way you're always talking to other people, you make a gamble on whether or not it's going to work, and then you accept the consequences that come with losing. Taking a gamble during battle, though, is different. You wager on whether or not a move will hit, and when you try to pull of some complicated maneuver, it often never works. I saw how my Brick Break affected the ground, and I thought I could use it to catch you off guard," he began explaining, Hinata nodding while trying to keep from laughing.

"You hustled me," Hinata said. "You made it look like all those Brick Breaks were nothing but your own incompetence, and then you use all of those to create an inescapable attack give how I normally dodge moves like that. I guess provoking you kinda worked," he said, Hayato freezing in place, waiting for an explanation. "I'm not that big of a jerk. I just figured if me and Yukino-chan antagonized you enough, you'd show what you're truly capable of."

"So we played each other is what you're saying?" Hayato asked, Hinata shrugging his shoulders for answer. "Well, the way I see it, I still have a battle to end, so bring it on, playboy!"

"Let's do this! Mawile, Play Rough!" he shouted, Mawile quickly charging at Toxicroak, it's entire body radiating a light dusting, sparkling in the fluorescent lighting of the gymnasium.

"Toxicroak, Dynamic Punch!" Hayato commanded, the poison pokémon running towards the fairy type with its fist held back, an incredible amount of power charging within its clenched hand. _"This is going to be a very interesting year for the both of us, isn't it, Kazuko?" _he wondered to himself, a large smile appearing on his face as the two pokémon reached each other.

With a single motion, Mawile swinging its giant horn down onto Toxicroak and the latter thrust its fist forward, the two attacks collided. It didn't create as much of an explosion as it did just a reflection for both pokémon, Toxicroak and Mawile both being launched from where they stood, both of them able to stay on their feet as they screeched along the floor.

As both pokémon stayed in position, it seemed like neither had actually been damaged by the attack, Mawile and Toxicroak both staring at each other until a small sting in Mawile's leg brought it down to the ground on one knee. With a small sneer in its eye, Toxicroak slowly closed its eyes and fell to the ground on its stomach, it's entire body limp. Chuckling slightly, Mawile brought itself back up to a standing position, holding its small arm up towards the sky in victory as the entire stadium erupted into applause.

Kazuko was definitely disappointed, having to watch her brother return his pokémon back to its ball, Yukino placing a hand on top of her head, ruffling up her hair to get her attention. Pointing back down to the battlefield, Yukino made note of Hinata walking over towards Hayato, his Mawile following after him, not moving as fast as it originally did. As soon as the younger student reached his teammate, he held out his hand, a wide smile on his face.

"Welcome to the team, Hayato," he said, Hayato chuckling as he gave in, and shook his hand. "Now that we've got that settled, how about we go up and introduce me to that cute little sister of yours?" he asked, a large smile on his face as his new teammate looked down at him, his face trembling with anger as he brought his fist over his head. "Can I have a head start?"

"Fine…," Hayato started, clenching his fingers. "I just gave you one…," he said, Hinata quickly running away from Kazuko's brother with him in a hot pursuit right behind him, everyone in the stadium watching the two with fits of laughter filling the auditorium, Kazuko watching her brother with a large smile, knowing he'd be just fine with a loss like that.

* * *

After everyone had cleared out of the stadium, Hinata was the only one left, Hayato having left to meet with Kazuko, giving the former ample time to hide. As he made his way to the doorway leading back out to the campus grounds, he stopped just before exiting, Yukino and her Galvantula leaning against the wall directly next to the door.

"He's not bad," Hinata said, referring to Hayato. "He had me on the ropes there for a while, but I obviously pulled through well enough to show him."

"You know the only reason he lost is because he spent more time on the set-up of his strategy, instead of attacking like you were," his teammate responded. "Had he attacked seriously like he did with the Earthquake attack, he wouldn't have been a fatigued as he had been when he used Dynamic Punch. He lost because he tried to show you what he's capable of."

"You know winning and losing doesn't mean anything to me," Hinata said. "It's about the show people can put on while doing either. All that time he was battling me, he never once winced or lost his cool. All throughout that he was calm, and he knew what he was doing, and what's more, his pokémon trusted him. I'm not claiming to be a perfect battler, but anyone who has their pokémon's trust is more than a powerful trainer in my book. He's the best kind of trainer."

"Something tells me, he's going to fit in just fine over in here," Yukino said. "But I knew there are still things about him that he's keeping secret from us, and you know how much I love that."

"You're not gonna let him have a moment of peace, are you?" Hinata asked, Yukino shrugging her shoulder as she walked through the door with Galvantula in tow, the bug pokémon sharing in her enjoyment of ferreting out anyone's secret. "Hope you're ready, Hayato, because this place is definitely not your average school. And the people here are far from your normal students," he said, walking through the door, his Mawile still looking injured from the battle.

"_He actually managed to make me doubt my abilities," _he said. _"There are only two other trainers so far that have ever survived that long against Mawile's attacks. There's no way there's anything average about him either. Well, I guess that's what makes this place interesting."_

* * *

Finally finding the dorm building where he'd be allowed to stay with Kazuko and Karin, Hayato walked into the building that looked more like a fancy hotel. Even upon walking in, the entire area was complete furnished with silk and leather, and every other expensive material you could think of. Looking down at a slip of paper in his hand, Hayato began looking through the rooms until he finally reached his on the third floor. Upon opening the door, Hayato was quickly tackled to the ground, Kazuko on top of him as she hugged him tightly.

"Welcome back, Onii-chan!" she said happily. "I was beginning to get lonely in here. Karin-san still isn't back from an errand she had to run," she explained as the two walked into the room, Hayato put off at how big it was for just the three of them. "You were really amazing in that battle earlier, and Yukino-san was able to recognize how good of a trainer you were."

"Ah, you met with the prankster," Hayato noticed, looked around the room; two desks along the wall, a brand new laptop with his name plastered on it, private bathroom, kitchen, toilet, and no beds. Noticing that as well, Hayato looked back, and saw that there were no beds whatsoever, despite their being the impression of the bed frame on the floor. "Hmm, you'd think a fancy place like this would have beds if they give us all of this."

"I noticed that too, I wonder why they got rid of them," she wondered, a sudden knocking at the door alerting both of them. "I'll get it," Kazuko declared, running towards the door, and opening it up. "Ah, Karin-san, you're back!" she said wrapping her arms around her.

"Yes, my apologies for not coming sooner, but it was difficult to locate these given the area I was allowed to search in," the maid said, dropping a large sack from behind her onto the floor. "When Hoshino-sama's battle started, I took it upon myself to make this room more accommodating to you, so I asked them to remove the beds in here, and I would replace them with these," she said, opening the sack, Hayato unable to help from laughing at the sight of three new futons in the large bag she was carrying. "I remember the two of you saying that you were far more comfortable sleeping in these rather than the large beds my mistress gave you, so please feel free to use them."

"You're the best, Karin-san!" Kazuko said happily as Hayato nodded, thanking her with a slight nod of the head. "By the way, why don't you call Onii-chan by his first name? If you call me Kazuko, then how about you start calling him Hayato?" she suggested, Karin's face becoming a bit red at the suggestion as she looked up at the trainer, her face still not changing expression.

"It might seem inappropriate for a person of my status to address a male master so intimately," she said, Kazuko not buying it. "At any rate, I am to listen to Hoshino-sama's orders as to how I should address him."

"Then call me Hayato," he said suddenly. "If you're going to be living with us, it just makes more sense for you to call me by my name. Besides, the name Hoshino tends to be a bit problematic given what that name means to me and other people. It's a tradeoff, you call me Hayato, and I'll just call you Karin, how about it?" he asked, Karin not showing any physical reaction, but it was obvious she was overjoyed, bowing to him promptly with a hearty thank you. "Now, it's late, and I need some sleep, I don't know about the rest of you. I'll see you in the morning, Kazuko, Karin," he said, Karin's face turning red again at being called by just her name.

"Then if you will excuse me," Karin said, beginning to walk towards a separate room for guests in the suite, Kazuko quickly grabbing her by the sleeve. "Kazuko-sama?"

"If Onii-chan can give you orders, then I can too," she said. "I order you to sleep in the same room as us," she said with a smile, Karin looking at both of them surprised. "You're not a servant to us, Karin-san. You're like a big sister. And if you're our sister, then we're a family. And if we're a family, we have to stay together."

"Just keep in mind, family gets sick of each other eventually," Hayato said half-asleep, Kazuko giving him a quick smack on top of his head. "Better do as she says."

"At once," Karin said, rolling out the mattress next to Kazuko, the younger of the two siblings smiling as her as she slowly fell asleep as well. _"Mistress, I am pleased you wanted me to accompany these two. They are good hearted people, but they are also immature of what their status means. While I am uncomfortable being treated as their equal, being a part of a family once again makes me feel very happy. Please forgive me for these impure thoughts, and just let me indulge for a while."_

"_Some family I have now, huh?"_ Hayato said to himself, not wanting to wake the others. _"Still, I think I can make the most of this. Kazuko has her school, Karin has her work, and now I have a new excuse to train my pokémon again. That battle was crazy. My first loss in years, and it felt so good. Sorry for putting you through that Toxicroak, but from now on, no fancy stuff. We battle like we're supposed to, and we show everyone what we're made of."_

* * *

Characters:

Hayato and Kazuko Hoshino: Toxicroak, other Pokémon TBA. NightFall00

Yukino Hayabusa: Galvantula, other Pokémon TBA. StattStatt

Hinata Hourai: Mawile, other Pokémon TBA. SDproductions

* * *

Pokémon Notes: This is something new I'm going to be doing that introduces pokémon in a different way, and explores a bit into their trivia and origins. This will only be done for Family Ties, though.

Toxicroak (Poison/Fighting): 4'03", 97.9lbs. Toxicroak is based on both the poison dart frog, for obvious reasons, and something called a hairy frog. The hairy frog, as its name suggests is lined with hairs that increase the intake of oxygen, much like external gills. The hairy frog is notable for being able to extend bone claws from its toes to act as a defense mechanism. It's notable that most animal claws are made of keratin, and not bone. Toxicroak has the highest base attack of all poison pokémon, not counting poison Arceus, and its type combination is unique to both it and its pre-evolved form.

Galvantula (Electric/Bug): 2'07", 31.5lbs. Like Toxicroak, Galvantula has a unique type combination that is shared only with its pre-evolved stage. Galvantula is based on a jumping spider and a tarantula, two spiders well known for hunting without webs, despite Galvantula being the only pokémon to learn Electroweb without the use of an Egg move. Galvantula's name in English comes from the words galvanism and tarantula. Galvanism is a contraction of a muscle when stimulated by electricity. This is the basis for all ideas that corpses can be brought to life by strong electrical currents with the phrase "galvanized into action."

Mawile (Steel/Fairy): 2'00", 25.4lbs. Mawile is a pokémon straight out of Japanese folklore as the "futakuchi-onna." For those not familiar with Japanese, this name literally translates to "two-mouthed-woman." The story of a woman who had a second functioning mouth on the back of her head hidden by her hair. The hair would act like tentacles, grabbing what it wanted, and eating what it could. Mawile in its Mega-Evolution form, while having the lowest base stat of all of them, has the highest attack of all pokémon. With the ability Huge Power which doubles the attack stat, Mega-Mawile has the potential to have 678 attack power.

* * *

Chapter one complete. Well that feels, good, and actually, the chapter went pretty good I think. I may have rushed some parts, but for the most part, it came pretty easy for me. So this time, we introduce four characters, two of them being my own side characters, and two actual characters in Yukino, an incurable prankster, and Hinata, a playboy bishounen. Good combination. With all my characters, I'm trying to figure out who should be on which team because for this chapter, I wanted to have the people who had less of a rivalry with Hayato as part of their team, and a playboy that gets on his nerve, and a nosy rosy just seemed to good to pass up. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I can't wait to see you all next time. Until we meet again, ja na.


	3. Chapter 2: Rivals

Alright, guys, since I'm on a roll, it's probably best to keep going at my new story to get some foundation on it. Regrettably this means that I won't be able to update my other stories, HDD is the one in particular that I'm kinda disappointed about. But at the same time, my normal readers are pretty used to this happening, so I'm not going to worry about it too much. With the addition of the first chapter, it seems like people like this story quite a bit. A recurring comment I'm finding is that the feel of this story is a bit different from the other ones I've written, and really that kind of idea can go either way. Obviously it's been a good thing so far, and I hope that it can continue to be, but as a person who has a hard enough time with social cues, I'm not quite sure how to change the feel of something. It might have to do with there being two characters from the start, but I have no idea.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON, BECAUSE IF I DID, DUNSPARCE WOULD PROBABLY EVOLVE.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Rivals

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a perfect man without trials," Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca. The trials of man are marked by their overcoming of sins such as temptation and grief. People are always plagued by the idea of committing some great crime, even if it doesn't feel like it, or they face hardship that makes them wonder if what they do is worth doing. The trials people put themselves through are the kinds that force them out of comfort. It's said that who we truly are is the person we become when things aren't going how we want them to. Adversity is the mark of what a person is truly like, and it is in these times that people can be shown to be as ruthless, selfish, uncaring, and evil as so many people have speculated them to be. Still, as the philosopher said, through trials, a man is able to become as polished as the most beautiful gem. So there isn't such a thing as no hope for humanity, and even if we are inherently bad, or imperfect, there's nothing that says we can't try to be like that. Striving to be perfect is the goal of everyone, and when it comes to love, even more so.

* * *

The time on the clock at the bottom of the computer screen read six o' clock in the morning, the sound of fast typing quietly filling Hayato's room. As he stared blankly at the screen through a pair of thin reading glasses, Hayato looked behind him to make sure his two roommates, per se, were still sleeping, his body frame offering enough protecting from the lit monitor. Turning back to the front, Hayato continued typing as the words glided across the page. After reaching a decent stopping point, he closed his eyes, and began reading the dialogue to see how it sounded.

"_Please do not leave me!"_ one of the characters said, the male one in this case.

"_You know as well as I that our love will never be recognized or accepted," _the female character responded, about to walk away had the male not grasped her by the wrist, and turned her around to face him head-on. _"Please, do not make this difficult for me."_

"_There is nothing difficult about this for me,"_ the first character declared. _"The love we share is not one that can be separated by a number such as age or money. It matters not to me if you are already a widower, and that you live in poverty. And it should not matter to me if I am a newfound prince with wealth beyond what most can imagine. I would cast all of it away if it meant I could be with you, my love."_

"_And I with you," _the female said, Hayato imagining the two embracing as he put the last touch on the page, reading "The End." There were at least ten more pages for the rest of it, but aside from final edits, his newest story was done. Hayato made it a point to finish his extended stories in at least a year from when they started at the end of September as the month of October was just beginning. Looking at the time stamp on his computer, just under the time, now getting to about half past the hour, Hayato saw the date as the first of October. Right on schedule.

Stretching out his back over his chair, Hayato heard a distinct pop from his spine, a satisfied groan from him as he walked back over to his futon, and nearly collapsed asleep. He knew he'd have to head off to his class in two hours, but part of him hoped he wouldn't even have to wake up. Most of the night had been spent with him writing to get his chapter out for the newest publication from his publisher, so right now and an original two hours of sleep were all he had. Directly next to him, Kazuko opened her eyes upon her brother landing on his futon, smiling as she could see the rise and fall of his breath.

"_If you only would relax a bit more like this all the time, Onii-chan,"_ she said to herself. _"You shouldn't have to worry so much about me all the time. I know that's why you started to write, but sometimes I wonder if you still write because you've started to enjoy it. I wish there was something I could do for you,"_ she said, turning over, Karin's face directly in front of her breathing as peacefully as Hayato. _"That's it!"_

* * *

As the morning light came shining in through the blinds on the window, Hayato was the first to feel its effects, his visible eye shooting open completely bloodshot. Upon walking to the window, Hayato glared at the sun as though to make it go back down over the horizon, only the bird pokémon around the window freezing in place, one of them even falling out of the sky. The sun, however, did not succumb to the frozen glare that Hayato was capable of inflicting on others. Instead, he groaned, and turned back around, finding Kazuko already awake as she came out of another room, already changed in to her uniform.

"Morning, Onii-chan!" she said cheerfully, Hayato not quite ready for such a bright greeting, simply moaning in response. "You look tired, maybe you need something to eat," she said as her brother walked into the bathroom, splashing his face with water to help stay awake.

"Don't you think we should let Karin sleep for a bit longer?" Hayato suggested.

"Of course, silly," Kazuko started, Hayato's body suddenly springing awake, a dark ominous force beginning to swell from his sister's words, dripping into the bathroom with him. "That's why I'm going to cook you some breakfast," she declared, turning around to the bathroom door with an apron on, Hayato instantly backing away as far as he could to the opposite end of the room. "Hey, come on, Onii-chan, let me cook for you," she said, try to turn the door handle, Hayato looking like he was about to be assaulted by some kind of monster.

"Kazuko, you know as well as I do, neither of us got our mother's talent!" Hayato shouted desperately. "You say I make the food too salty, but you have to admit when you cook, you put in too much everything!"

"What are you talking about, Onii-chan?" Kazuko asked, still trying to wrench the door open. "I made you a very nutritious meal to start out with. I made sure to get you a lot of vegetables for it, so I put in about fifty different kinds so you'll become energetic!" she said, not realizing the evil spilling out of her words, Hayato's entire face blank with fear. "Don't worry, it only looks a little weird, but I can assure that the taste is first-rate, it won't end up like last time!"

"Last time I was nearly comatose for a week!" Hayato shouted, now with his back to the door, trying to keep it from opening. "Let's just wait for Karin to wake up. As much as I don't like to admit, she's a much better cook than me."

"Quite being so stubborn, Onii-chan," Kazuko said, the door suddenly ripping open as Hayato was grabbed by his sister on the shoulders. "I promise it'll taste really good!"

"Toxicroak, you traitor!" Hayato shouted, his partner waving to him sinisterly from the door as its trainer was dragged across the floor to a small dining table, ready to watch what was going to happen next. Hayato looked over at Karin desperate for a way out, but found her to still be asleep despite all the noise the two were making by this point.

"Now, enjoy yourself, Onii-chan!" Kazuko said happily, removing a cloth form the top of a saucer dish, both Toxicroak and Hayato cringing at the sight of a small green puddle with bubbles coming out from the top like a pit of acid.

"You eat it, Toxicroak," Hayato whispered, the poison type looking at him with a shocked expression. "You're a poison type, you should be immune to it." Toxicroak glared back at him, making sure that Hayato knew there was no guarantee with Kazuko's cooking that even a poison type would be immune to that kind of poison.

"What's wrong, Onii-chan?" Kazuko asked, both her brother and his pokémon straightening out, trying to feign some kind of innocence on the matter, a small tear appearing in the pocket of Kazuko's eye. "And I tried so hard to make sure you'd have enough energy after writing all night long," she said, her voice beginning to break in between sobs. "I know I'm not a very good cook, but I thought even I might be able to help you stay healthy for the time being."

Hayato continued to cringe at the two sights. On the one hand, he knew eating almost anything Kazuko made was dangerous for his health. But, on the other hand, seeing his sister cry was something he hated to see, his hand instinctively moving for the spoon currently melting in the concoction. Seeing her sibling about to eat her food, Kazuko sniffled, instantly stopping her tears with a large smile as Hayato unwillingly ladled the soup into his mouth. At first, there was no reaction from either sibling, Karin moaning as she began to wake, looking over towards the dining table where both of her, for lack of a better term, employers were sitting.

"Ah, good morning, Kazuko-sama, Hayato-sa-," she started to say, seeing Hayato landing face first into the soup Kazuko had fed to him. "Hayato-sama, is something wrong!?" Karin shouted desperately, running towards the table, Kazuko looking at her brother confused.

"Ah," she said, looking as though she figured out his reaction with a clap of her hands. "It's so good that he didn't even bother with the spoon, and is now going to eat with just his mouth," she said, walking away, Karin and Toxicroak both looking at her in surprise at how dense she was being. "I'll be waiting down in the first floor the two of you. See you later, Onii-chan!" she said waving to them, Toxicroak picking up Hayato's arm to force him to wave back.

"I find it surprising that Kazuko-sama isn't as skilled in cooking as she is in everything else," Karin said while looking at the doorway, Hayato instantly lifting his head up like he had just been raised from the dead, his facial expressing solidifying that idea.

"She means well," he said, coughing out what he could of the food, minus what had already been swallowed. "But I'm not going to lie to her about her being a good cook. I'd rather not hurt her feelings by lying. I choose the lesser of two evils."

"Smart decision, but you still ate it out of concern for her feelings," Karin said, tapping the remaining contents with her finger, placing it on the tip of her tongue. "Hmm, overall, her technique isn't what's bad, but her choices in ingredients," she said, Hayato looking at her in shock that she was able to handle the food itself. "If you like, I would be willing to coach her on how to make truly delicious meals so that she can make you feel much better."

"Do what you think is best," Hayato said. "Oh, and by the way, could I ask you to run this by my publisher in Lumiose? They'll know who it's from even if it's not me bringing them the manuscript this time around," he said, handing Karin a large envelope containing his newest chapter for his story, the maidservant looking down at the hidden contents, trying her hardest to keep from reading them. "No peeking, just so we're clear. And I'd fix that bed head before you go," he said, Karin's face getting a bit red as she quickly looked over in the mirror, seeing her obvious comfort from last night.

* * *

After reaching the lowest floor, Hayato's face was enough to scare away all of the male students hanging around Kazuko as she waited for both him and Karin.

"Ah, Onii-chan!" Kazuko called out, the group around her instantly running out the door as quickly as they could. "Where's Karin-san?"

"She's got a few errands to run, so we should probably just go and get you to class before you're late," Hayato explained. "Then I gotta get to the pit of despair that is my abandoned classroom. Part of me wishes that the trainer's classes were a bit like yours."

"Still, Yukino-san is a very nice and pretty girl," Kazuko said, not having experienced Yukino's trickster personality like Hayato had. "But there is that other guy on your team, what was his name again?" she asked.

"Hinata Hourai," Hayato reminded. "Trust me, I hate having to deal with him as much as you do, but I still have to. And since he beat me yesterday, I'm sure he's gonna be gloating about it in my face all day long," he said as the two walked along the courtyard as a shortcut to get to the school building where Kazuko was attending classes. "By the way, speaking of people I have to deal with, how are the people in your class. Is anybody treating you badly?"

"No, everyone in that class is really nice, and I think they like me," Kazuko said, Hayato letting out a sigh of relief as he remembered how that used to be the exact opposite when their parents first died, and how Kazuko was originally treated for it as well as having a trainer for a brother.

* * *

Three years prior, Hayato was riding his bike along the roads of Coumarine, Kazuko's school within sight, his eyes dead tired from trying to make his newfound deadline in his writing career. As he reached the school, the bell tower up above rang several times alerting him that school was just about to get out for the day, forcing him to wait by the side of the school gate. After having waited for about ten minutes, Hayato noticed that Kazuko had yet to come out, forcing him to lock up his bike, and venture into his old elementary school to find his sister.

Walking through the halls with nostalgic fondness, a rare smile came across Hayato's face, most of the teachers walking by him knowing who he was, but not wanting to due to the symbol on his hat. Upon reaching Kazuko's class, Hayato could hear something from inside, placing his ear the closed door. It sounded like jeering, and stomping. Not wanting to know who it was, Hayato quickly thrust the door open with every eye suddenly turning towards him.

"_Kazuko!"_ he shouted, walking towards the group, the other students all backing away from him. _"Get out of here you idiots! Now!" _he shouted with as much fury as he could muster, the others all running away. _"Kazuko, are you okay?"_ he asked, looking down at the center of the floor, his younger sister curled up into a small ball with dust marks over her clothes and tears in her eyes, trying to keep from looking up. _"Hey, Kazuko, you're okay, come on, you're okay."_

"_I-I'm sorry,"_ she managed to say with a small hiccup in her voice. _"I tried to be strong, but without mom and dad, I couldn't keep from crying today."_

"_No, you don't have to be sorry for that,"_ Hayato said, picking her up, and putting her in his lap. _"I should be crying more that they're gone. Don't ever feel like you're not being a good daughter because you haven't moved on. I'm sure mom and dad are fine that you still miss them this much. Those people just don't understand what's happened to us. They think they're being strong by picking on someone who's weaker than them. I'm gonna make this all better, okay?"_ he asked, Kazuko nodding with a large sniffle.

* * *

"Just remember to never let them make fun of you, okay?" Hayato said, Kazuko looking at him confused. "We're not in the same environment as we're used to, so just don't let them call you weird for being who you are."

"They think I'm really cool, though," Kazuko said, her brother looking at her surprised as they reached the school building. "When I tell them about all the things I used to do before I came here, they think that it's awesome how I used to go into thrift stores for clothes, and how my brother didn't need a teacher to help him train pokémon. They all want to be my friends!"

"Well, that's good," Hayato said, a large smile on his face as Kazuko ran up the steps to the door to go to class. "Just be careful today, okay?" he called out, Kazuko waving back to him.

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" a female voice behind Hayato as he cringed before turning around. "Hey, you, is that any way to be glaring at your teacher?" Kasumi asked, her normal lazy eyes glazed over as they stared at each other. "I heard your sister was a cutie, but I never thought that there'd be that much disconnect between the two of you. It's like you're not even related with the way you two act," she said, Hayato walking past her.

"Is there anything you wanted with me other than making fun of the relationship I have with my sister?" Hayato asked, Kasumi patting him lightly on the shoulder.

"Your team is looking for you," she said, Hayato trembling at the sound of that word, knowing that his team consisted of a shameless flirt and an incurable prankster. "They asked me to find you so they can get everything ready."

"Oh, fun," the trainer said sarcastically as the two made their way to vine covered building.

* * *

"Congratulations on becoming our team leader!" both Yukino and Hinata shouted as they pulled the strings off of two poppers as the streamers that came off from them fell over Hayato's head.

"Why am I your team leader?" Hayato asked, looking up with a definitely annoyed face.

"Because it's only natural that the older of us gets to be the leader of our team," Hinata said, patting him swiftly on the back several times. "Besides, even if I am the obvious choice for being the leader of our team, it's common knowledge that there is always a brains, muscle, and mastermind. You are the mastermind and I will be the muscle."

"And somehow, you figured _she_ was the brains in this operation?" Hayato asked, pointing back at Yukino as she began stringing up another eraser trap in the doorway while they were talking. "I swear, the only reason you guys would want me as the leader is so you don't have to take the blame in the chance we lose."

"I think he's on to us," Yukino said, her voice dripping with condescension as she looked back at her work. "Still, if I'm the leader, I won't take it seriously enough to get anything done. Hinata-kun is a strong battler, and he'd be a good choice, but with the other girls on the other teams, he'd be more worried about putting the moves on them. We figured you should be the leader because you could take it seriously enough. Plus, you're scary as heck, you can just scare the others into forfeiting."

"Speaking of which, I haven't met any of the other teams since I came here," Hayato noticed. "I figured I'd at least meet them in passing, but they don't seem to be in my line of vision."

"Well, they all take this game of our a bit seriously," Hinata explained. "Since we haven't had enough players to compete in the Trainer Wars yet, we haven't had much reason to try that hard to get things done. Since you came, and we really don't want to be troubled by all of this, we'd figure it's best to dump everything on you!" he said, both him and Yukino holding a thumbs-up at Hayato, the latter trying to keep from losing his cool.

"So, what do you want me to do?" he asked, taking in a few breaths in order to remain calm.

"The leader of a team pretty much just comes up with the plan for everything," Yukino said, sitting in one of the seats at the farther end of the room, her Galvantula peering over the top of the desk at Hayato. "Hinata-kun and I were on the same team last year, and our leader was really on top of things. All you have to do is stay in control of the situation to help us win in the competitions all throughout the year so we have the upper hand in the tournament."

"Oh, is that all?" Hayato questioned. "Still, I don't have any idea about any of the other trainers in this school aside from the two of you. And unless you two decide to fight against me instead, knowing more about your strategies doesn't help us none," he said, reaching into his bag for his laptop and his reading glasses. "Creating a strategy for battles is simple enough. More often than not, you base your plan off of the two pokémon in battle, and then determine how to best use their strengths either for or against you. What you two are talking about is the idea of using our pokémon in miscellaneous events that force us to think differently from how we would in a battle. Without know the specs ahead of time, it'd be like a writing a story without a plot."

"Odd analogy," Hinata noticed, Hayato instantly looking up from his screen, realizing what he said. "But he's got a point, I'll say that much. There's no guarantee that we'll know what the different competitions are, so there's no point in worrying about it."

"Even still," Yukino said. "Knowing at least what our opponents have in terms of their own pokémon would make it easier to know what they might use against us."

The other two didn't immediately respond, Hayato now realizing that no matter how idiotic his teammates acted at times, they were still serious about winning this competition. With all their pranks, flirting, annoyances, showboating, and everything else about them, it was just how they distinguished themselves from the other people in this school. Even if he didn't like to admit it, part of Hayato knew he was wrong to assume the worst about them. A small smile came across his face as he began typing at his computer, still looking at both of them, never turning his eyes towards the keyboard.

"_Yukino Hayabusa Analysis,"_ he began typing. _"A prankster by nature whose known pokémon seems to reflect her likes and dislikes. Very analytical about the situation, and seems to be able to apprehend her surroundings without having to look at them to double check. Very confident in her abilities and her own person,"_ he finished, turning to Hinata, seeing him not playing with a small deck of cards.

"_Hinata Hourai Analysis. A shameless flirt I'd like to strangle and then blast into next week with considerable skill in pokémon battles. Takes gambling in battle very seriously, use strong, wide movements, never knowing if they will succeed or not. Not only confident in his own charm, but also reflects this in his pokémon. DON'T LET HIM NEAR KAZUKO EVER!"_

After he was finished, Hayato closed his laptop lid, and removed his glasses, wondering if there was a simple way of meeting the other trainers. As he looked out into the hallway, Hayato could see a faint shadow moving around the doorway, almost like someone was trying to peer inside. As he looked around the room, the older trainer could see that whoever it was, the other two could notice him all too easily, their glances going in between the door and whatever they were doing at the time.

"Okay, I'm lost, do we do something or not?" Hayato suddenly asked, both Hinata and Yukino shushing him as quickly and quietly as possible, the latter of the two pointing to the door. _"Still not quite getting it, but whatever,"_ he said to himself, hearing the door creak open, his eyes shifting to where the sound was, also hearing a small poof in the air with the dust from the eraser creating a small cloud around the person who almost stood on all fours.

Hearing him cough several times before clearing out the rest of the chalk dust, Hayato turned to face the new person head-on, staring straight down at him. As the rest of the mist finally disappeared, Hayato raised his eyebrow, not surprised, but rather caught off guard by the young boy…emphasis on young. Also looking down at him, Yukino almost squealed in delight as she bolted down, picking up the younger male, and holding him in a tight embrace.

"It's so good to see you again, Minoru-kun!" she said happily, a small vein popping in Hinata's forehead. "You're so cute, I feel like I could squeeze you forever."

"Please, Hayabusa-senpai, don't do this again," the other boy said a bit quieter, not as confident in his voice as the others that Hayato had met. "I got caught by your trap again. I thought this time I'd be able to see through it."

"Hoy many times does it take to figure out the old eraser in the door gag?" Hayato asked, Hinata sharing in his amusement, still annoyed that the boy Yukino called Minoru was getting more attention than him. "Putting that aside, who are you?" Hayato quickly asked, glaring down at Minoru, the younger boy standing up, trying to face the older trainer as best he could.

"I'm Minoru Saito, first year junior high student," he said, trying to force it out more confidently, Hayato not quite hearing the power in his voice that he did with his own teammates.

"He's also half the reason my lines don't work on some of the girls," Hinata said, getting right up in Minoru's face, the younger trainer shying away with a nervous laugh. "What's he got that I ain't got?" he asked, picking up Minoru by the collar of his shirt.

* * *

Hayato could also see why Hinata wasn't convinced of this kid's skill, per se, upon getting a better look at him. He was just smaller than the others. Minoru stood at about five foot one or two, so compared to Hayato, the older trainer was a skyscraper, the younger one having a modest build, some strength, but not a whole heck of a lot. His hair was in between the land of being too long for a guy and just right, the olive brown strands almost tangled in how they were combed, covering the entire upper half of his face just above his sky blue eyes. He dressed fairly moderately, a pair of brown colored boots with the legs of a cream colored pair of jeans tucked into them, a green colored shirt underneath an opened gray colored short sleeved shirt, and a dark green sport brace around his right wrist, a pokéball shaped design stitched in a dark blue color.

* * *

"My guess would be a shred of dignity left," Hayato replied to his male teammate. "Still, hard to imagine the disconnect between two trainers when you put 'em next to each other like this," he said, leaning over to stand face-to-face with Minoru, the younger trainer's eyes averting in every direction possible to get away.

"I don't mind at all," Yukino said, grabbing Minoru again, the younger trainer trying to pull away. "You and Kazuko-chan are the cutest kids in this school. I hope the two of you don't ever grow up," she said, pressing her cheek to Minoru's, the latter turning completely red.

"Putting our own personal feelings aside," Hayato said, pulling Minoru away from Yukino, Hinata still glaring at him with a glint in his eye. "There's a reason why you came here, wasn't there?" he asked, Minoru beginning to stutter, unable to come up with an answer. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell that you weren't hanging around the door to figure out a lame trick like that," he said, the power in his voice making Minoru hiccup a bit, still searching for an answer.

"Now, now, Hayato-kun, there's not need to be so suspicious about our little friend," Hinata said, Minoru letting out a small sigh of relief. "Of course, if we wanted to interrogate him, it wouldn't take us to long to make him squeal," he said, tensing up his fingers with Mawile suddenly appearing behind him, both of its mouths sharing the same sneer, Minoru's face going white with fear. "This is what happens to people that steal the girls I target."

"U-Um," Minoru managed to say, trying his best not to just stay silent about everything that was happening around him. "I-I just wanted to find out more about H-Hoshino-senpai," he said, his head staying pointed at the ground, his hands gripping the sides of his pants, Hayato looking at him confused. "I watched senpai in the battle yesterday, and even if he didn't win, he reminded me of a great battler I know. I thought maybe he'd be willing to teach me a thing or two."

"You want me to teach you how to battle?" Hayato asked as Minoru nodded, a tint of red covering his face, trying to keep from looking up. _"Well, he's definitely an odd one. If he's a trainer like the rest of us, it's obvious that he has his own skill, but why on earth would he want somebody from an opposing team to help him learn how to battle."_

"That's so cute, you look up to Hayato-kun like a teacher," Yukino said, Hayato turning to her in surprise. "Not everything we do is about the Trainer Wars. A lot of the other trainers are friends with each other even if they aren't on the same teams. It's only one or two people that take it too seriously. And then again, Hinata-kun really doesn't like Minoru-kun."

"Yeah, I got that, so why do you think I'm the best choice to teach you how to battle?" Hayato asked, Hinata still growling at Minoru with his Mawile sneering at him.

"Um, I may be the youngest trainer right now, but I know that next year, I'll be somebody's upperclassman," Minoru started. "I thought if I could learn from a stronger trainer how to help my own pokémon, maybe I could do a bit better so the newer trainers have somebody to look up to. You have the same feeling as a battler I know, so I want to learn from you, senpai!" he suddenly said, bowing to Hayato as low as he possibly could.

"Toxicroak," Hayato began, Hinata and Yukino looking at him confused, looking around the room, not finding the poison type standing anywhere within sight. "Do it," he said, his voice much more ominous by this point, a large shadow suddenly jumping out into the open.

Landing in front of Hayato, Toxicroak held out its shears, Minoru taking a quick breath in out of shock, walking back a few steps as the poison and fighting mix jumped into the air. Changing its position, Toxicroak angled itself downward, the pointed ends of its arms facing directly at the younger trainer, both of Hayato's teammates about to send in their pokémon to help. Simply holding them at bay with his arms outstretched, Hayato glared down at Minoru, the trainer taking in another breath as Toxicroak's eyes then shifting to the side. From the open doorway, a blast of multi-colored wavelengths shot out, and blasted Toxicroak away from Minoru.

With its feet screeching across the floorboards, Toxicroak smirked as the Psywave attack dissipated into the air, Minoru finally letting out his breath, looking back in the opening. Slowly floating as stoically as it could into view, his pokémon came into view, its orb-shaped body adorned with eight equally spaced spikes, and two half closed eyes.

"Thank you, Solrock," Minoru said as the rock and psychic type acknowledged its trainer presence with a slight bow, and then turned towards Toxicroak, the poison type sneering as its opponent narrowed its vision onto him. "Why did you do that, senpai?"

"He's got a point," Hinata said. "I mean if you're gonna hit him, at least let me do it with my own two fists," he said, Yukino quickly punching him in the gut as he fell over.

"I can't teach him anything," Hayato said, turning around and taking a seat in one of the many empty chairs, Minoru looking at him disappointed, about to ask for some kind of reason. "When I started training pokémon, I didn't have anything like a tutor or a teacher to help me along with the process. All I had was me and my pokémon. Those private training classes a lot of the people here took are a waste of time in my opinion. Pokémon are individual creatures with personalities as varied as the people who train them. Learning to battle in the same way as my Toxicroak is only going to hinder your own progress."

"What do you mean?" Minoru asked, Solrock now floating above him, still looking down at Toxicroak, the two pokémon not obviously getting off on the right foot.

"I learned to battle based on who my pokémon were," Hayato explained. "There's no right or wrong way to battle, and it's never something a person can teach you. It's different when you're studying for something like science. There are set formulas for that kind of stuff, but when you try to apply a single kind of concept to an unpredictable creature, chances are, you'll only get it right one time out of a hundred if you're lucky. I can't teach you how to battle because I only know how to battle my way."

"I see," Minoru said, looking down, completely disappointed. "Then I'm sorry for wasting your time, senpai," he said, giving a polite bow to Hayato, the older trainer now facing away from him. "I'm sorry to you two as well," he said, looking at both Hinata and Yukino, the latter waving at him cheerfully as the former merely gave him a sign to buzz off.

Just as Minoru was about to walk through the doorway, a single hand reached out from just out of view, lightly gripping the back of Minoru's collar. Pulling herself into view, Hayato could tell she was older than Minoru, but probably only about as old as the other two members of his own team. Hayato was a big believer of the idea of the eyes being the window to the soul, but this girl's were closed off. She was trying to make it clear to everyone that she wasn't to be messed with. The only thing was, she didn't do it with pride in her eyes, but as a sincere warning.

"My apologies, Hoshino-senpai," the girl said with a bow. "My teammate has caused you trouble, and it is my own fault for not watching him more closely. In the future, we will inform you of any upcoming visits," she said, bringing her head up, looking at the other two. "I offer this apology to you, as well, Hayabusa-san, Hourai-san."

"Don't think much of it," Yukino said. "I like it when Minoru-kun comes to visit. Him not so much," she said, pointing to where Hinata was, seeing only a silhouette where he once stood, looking across the room, her teammate holding the young woman's hand as he stared deeply into her eyes.

"If it means I get to see more of you, Kumiko-chan, I don't think I would mind having to stomach seeing him more often," he said, giving a crooked smile with a bright glint in his teeth.

"So, was there any specific reason for Minoru-kun's visit to your team, today, Hoshino-senpai?" the girl, Kumiko, asked as Hayato looked back over at the two opposing team members, Hinata stuck in the same position from being ignored so easily, his entire body turning into stone, eventually crumbling into pieces.

"You should be proud of your team member," he said, Minoru looking at him confused as did Kumiko. "He came here to ferret out our weaknesses by catching us off guard, and finding us at our most vulnerable. You obviously have a very noble teammate."

"I suppose so," Kumiko said, looking back over at Minoru, the younger trainer still a bit embarrassed at being the center of attention, the former then holding out her hand in greeting. "My apologies for the later introduction. I am Kumiko Nishimura, third year junior high student. I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Hayato Hoshino-senpai," she said as Hayato took her hand, somewhat off put by the sheer politeness of her speech.

* * *

Kumiko wasn't a very tall person, but given her age, she was about the right height, standing a little more than five foot four with a pale skin tone, and a somewhat weaker body structure, a similar shape to Yukino's. Her hair was a silver color, running down behind her shoulders, the ends of the strands curling upwards, the front part of it combed much like Hayato's, the only difference being that her eyes were still visible. Her eyes, while on the subject, were a blue color like the Hoshino siblings, Kumiko's however having a much darker tone to them, and with the way she stared at anybody, it was obvious nothing would get through to her. Compared to everyone that Hayato had met, Kumiko dressed the most like any of the students, wearing a navy blue blazer with white accents with the pokéball design stitched into the right chest, the sleeves only reaching about halfway down her forearm left open over a cream colored blouse, a peach colored skirt that reached to her knee, and a pair of white sandals held up with laces.

* * *

"Likewise," Hayato said, the other two surprised at how pleasant Hayato was being with the other person, only having seen him brooding around.

"I'll have Minoru-kun apologize for his behavior at a later date," Kumiko said, forcing her teammate's head back down. "Again, I do apologize for any trouble we may have caused."

"Thank you," Hayato replied, Kumiko turning back around, and sliding open the door, a low groaning sound heard from the other side as all five people looked up.

"Karin?" Hayato questioned, looking forward, seeing his and Kazuko's maid standing in the doorway, a large basket in her hand as the trainer felt a sudden impact with his stomach. "And Kazuko is with you, too. Mind if I ask why?"

"Is that how you treat you little sister?" Kazuko asked, Hayato leaning down next to her. "Anyway, it's lunch time right now, so I thought I would bring the food I made in class to share with you and your teammates," she said, looking around the room at the other people with her brother. "Huh? I thought there were only three people on one team. Did you lie to me, Onii-chan?" she asked, Hayato shaking his head at how many times he had to deal with this.

"No, we are not part of his team," Kumiko answered for him. "We are from an opposing team," she said, bowing to Kazuko.

"Then why are you here?" Kazuko asked.

"T-That's my fault," Minoru admitted, his Solrock following after him as he came out into the open again, looking up at Kazuko, and quickly turning completely red. "U-Um…I-I'm sorry for any trouble I cause your brother," he said as he tilted his head, trying not to look at her face directly, his face completely covered in blush, his heart pounding as fast as possible.

"Are you okay?" Kazuko asked, trying to get a better look at Minoru. "If you're sick, I can take you to the nurse's office. I'm sure she'd be glad to let you have some rest if you have fever," she said, placing her hand on his forehead, Minoru instantly straightening up, the tension in Hayato's fist building as it trembled in anger. "Ah, see, you're completely red. Maybe you really do have a fever," she said, pressing the tip of her forehead to his, steam beginning to come out of his head.

"U-U-Um," Minoru tried to say, but almost ended fainting, Kazuko looking at him confused as he instantly backed away, staying in a bowed position. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine, and I apologize for the trouble I caused," he said as quickly as possible before running out of the room, Kumiko looking at him confused as the door closed with a slam.

"I'll make sure he's all right," she said, still as confused as ever as she walked out of the room after her teammate, the others left, a bit dumbfounded by what happened.

"So, getting back to this, what's wrong with Karin?" Hayato asked, his sister looking back at the dazed look in their caretaker's eyes, the only change in expression she'd had since they met.

"She just said that she was feeling sleepy after having some of my food, but she had the strength to get back here," Kazuko said, holding a boxed lunch towards all three, Hinata and Yukino both looking at it with wonder at how professional it looked, only Hayato able to see dark fumes coming out from the top of it as Karin fell to the ground, finally giving into it. "If you like, your pokémon are welcome to have some as well," she said, a bell ringing off in the distance. "Oh no, class is about to start again. Well, I leave it with you guys, so you can enjoy it."

"Thanks, Kazuko-chan!" Yukino called out as the door slammed shut. "Such a cute little girl, and she can make food that looks like this as well. You're lucky to have such a nice sister," she said, both Hayato and Toxicroak backing away to the end of the room.

"What's up?" Hinata asked, his Mawile grabbing one of the rice balls in it, nobody watching the steel type as its face began to turn purple, quickly falling to the ground. "You make it seem like this isn't something that should be happening," he said, Yukino's Galvantula grabbing some of it with its webbing, and taking it back up into its mouth, the same result happening as it hung limp from the its own thread.

"No, you two enjoy it, I insist," Hayato said as his teammates shrugged their shoulders and took a large bite from two of the items. _"My apologies, innocent souls,"_ he said as though in prayer, two loud shrieks of agony coming from the room followed by a couple of thuds.

* * *

Off in another of the rooms of the trainer's building, Minoru had just run back into his team's classroom, his face still flush as he stayed huddled in the corner, Kumiko watching him to make sure he was fine. From behind, another figure stepped into view, placing her elbow on Kumiko's head, leaning over the younger girl as they both looked at how Minoru was acting.

"So, you say after that Kazuko girl checked him for a fever, he instantly became like this, and ran out without another word," the girl asked, her voice thickened with a near Slavic accent. "Well, there are only a few things it can be, but I think we both know what it is," she hinted teasingly, poking at Kumiko's cheek, the other female member not satisfying her.

"Whatever it is, Minoru-kun isn't going to be able to battle as well if he's sick like this," she said, the girl behind her sighing at how dense the rest of her team was. "Perhaps we should take him to the nurse's office to be treated. Do you agree Miss Kovalenka?"

"First off, I told you, you can call me Dominika," the girl said. "And second, this isn't a sickness, Kumiko. Minoru is sick of a different kind," she started, Kumiko listening to this girl intently. "He's lovesick," she said with red coming over Minoru's face again as Kumiko herself showed a small hint of blush. "Ah, it's so cute watching a boy's first love unfold. So tell me, Minoru, what do you like best about this Kazuko?" Dominika asked as she quickly swept Minoru into the air, holding him tightly.

* * *

Dominika Kovalenka was one of the many foreign students that the school welcomed, which made her presence a much more powerful one, even with the fact she was a much more outspoken person. Dominika was about as tall as Hayato, maybe an inch shorter despite being a year older, with a much more developed body frame given her age in comparison to other female trainers. Her hair length and color was similar to Kazuko's tied up in a high ponytail, the sheen of the ebony strands unmistakable in the light as she twirled around with Minoru in her arms. Her eyes shone through her bangs and a pair of glasses in emerald hues. Compared to the others in her team, she dressed less than conservatively, her electric yellow top exposing her stomach with a pair of loosely fit black trousers directly below, the belt holding them up decorated with a pokéball belt buckle design, and a pair of black wristbands.

* * *

"Well, what is it about her?" Dominika asked, Minoru still red as he tried to find an answer.

"I-I just thought she was k-kinda…," he began to say as Dominika stopped and waited for his answer. "…c-cute," he finally managed to say, the foreign student laughing at how embarrassed he was as she let him go.

"You are too precious, Minoru," she said, Kumiko doing her best to stay out of this. "And for that, me and Kumiko are going to help make sure you convey those feelings to Kazuko!" she declared, grabbing Kumiko around the neck to keep her from running away, Minoru letting out a deep sigh. "First thing you do is make sure she sees your manly side."

"As if I have one," Minoru said, completely discouraged. "Hoshino-senpai is so much more of a man than me, and even if I asked him for help, I don't think he wants to let anyone near his sister," he said, Dominika looking down at him while visibly thinking.

"So she's the younger sister of that new guy," she began. "Then this makes things easier for us," she said, cracking her knuckles with Minoru and Kumiko both looking at her completely pale in the face. "Then it's settled with a unanimous vote. We declare war on the new kid tomorrow!"

* * *

"Huh?" Hayato asked, leaning over in his seat in their classroom, Dominika standing in front of the rest of his team, a large electric pokémon standing behind her with the same pose of their arms folded over their chest. "You want me to do what?"

"You are going to battle our Minoru today, one-on-one with no time limit," she declared.

"Nope, sorry," Hayato said, standing up as Toxicroak sneered at the pokémon and its trainer, Dominika's head twitching a bit in anger at his attitude. "I already saw what he was capable of yesterday, so I have no reason to battle him."

"So, then you don't want to make sure your new brother in-law is going to be fit enough to protect your sister?" Dominika asked, every cell in Hayato's body beginning to twitch as Hinata and Yukino both hid away in the back, their leader looking as though he were about to explode. "Oh, didn't you know? Minoru definitely has eyes for little Kazuko. He may even start calling her 'Kazu-chan,'" she said, obviously antagonizing him with obvious results as Minoru did his best to remain calm in this situation, Kumiko simply sighing passively.

"What. Did. You. Say!?" Hayato suddenly shouted, running right back up to Dominika so they were eye to eye. "You think I'd let some scared, unconfident little twerp like him be the man my sister becomes promised to!? If you want to get within fifty miles of Kazuko, you better be ready to go through me, brat!" he said, directing his attention at Minoru by now, Dominika obviously not liking what she was seeing out of Hayato.

"Just like we rehearsed, Minoru-kun," Kumiko whispered to him, quickly backing off as the younger trainer took a step forward, Hayato leaning over to face him directly.

"I-If I prove myself worthy, please let me…let me…," he began to say, Dominika smirking at how well their plan was going. _"I can't say it!"_ he suddenly shouted to himself. "Please let me battle you, senpai!" he suddenly shouted, neither of his teammates expecting him to make an outburst like that. "I'm willing to put everything on hold if you just battle me once so I can see how far I've come. So please, battle me!" he almost commanded of Hayato, making a low bow to the ground as Hayato looked at him.

Hayato couldn't see anything different in the way that Minoru looked. He didn't try and make himself look any stronger, nor did he try to make himself look manlier. In fact, he seemed more humble than before. It was strange. Most people who battled against Hayato were loud, boisterous, and had all the confidence in the world, but this kid was definitely different, but maybe that was a good thing.

"Fine," he said, walking by Minoru, returning Toxicroak into its ball. "But you're going to have to fight one of my weaker pokémon if you want to even begin to prove yourself to me."

"Yes, thank you," Minoru said as he raised his head, Solrock looking down at its trainer with a noticeable lift in its eye expression.

* * *

This time, the battle wouldn't be done in the auditorium, and instead was taking place on the grassy fields directly outside of the trainer's building, Kazuko running out as soon as she saw her brother standing on yet another battlefield. Some of the other students had shown up, some of them squealing with delight at the sight of Minoru, calling out to him, calling him cute and all that, making his face go red.

"_As if somebody like that is good enough for Kazuko,"_ Hayato said vengefully as he looked down towards Minoru, his Solrock already in place in front of him. "Let's get this started. Snover, engage!" he shouted, a small white, green, and brown pokémon jumping out of the pokéball, Kazuko cheering for her brother, the others simply watching her in disbelief.

"Hey, Kazuko-chan, why don't you cheer for Minoru-sama?" one of them asked. "Don't you think he's just so cute?"

"Hmm, I guess," she said. "But I have to root for Onii-chan. What kind of sister would I be if I didn't?" she asked, quickly getting swept up off her feet, Dominika spinning her around in her arms as her Ampharos stood behind her and simply laughed at how its trainer was acting.

"Oh, you're so cute!" she shouted, Hayato quickly calling back out to her in anger, Dominika sticking out her tongue at him. "I'll be confiscating her until the end of the match," she said, Kazuko looking confused as she was quickly brought over to the same side as the other trainers. "Kumiko, if you would please begin the battle."

"At once," Kumiko said, stepping up to the edge of the battlefield the two had set up. "This will be a one-on-one pokémon match with no time limit," she said, holding up her arms as a small bat pokémon did the same with its wings on top of the trainer's head, a Noibat. "And now, begin!" she shouted, her Noibat falling back down onto her shoulder from her head as Snover and Solrock both met each other in the middle of the battlefield.

"Solrock, Fire Spin!" Minoru shouted, Solrock suddenly stopping as it began to spin around and around, end over end, each rotation picking up momentum, and with each rotation, more and more flames began to extend from the ends of Solrock's spikes.

With barely another second to analyze the attack, Hayato watched the flames shoot out from their spots on the rock type's horns and turn into a fiery vortex aimed directly at the grass and ice pokémon. Seeing the attack focused on it, Snover's expression instantly dropped, and quickly ran to the other side of the field, flailing its arms as wildly as it could. Seeing its opponent run away, Solrock stopped spinning, and began to follow after it, this time the small visible slivers of its eyes shining in a translucent blue light, directing the trajectory of the Fire Spin attack. With the attack now chasing after Snover like a predator, the ice type continued to run around in circles along the perimeter of the battlefield.

As the chase continued, the sidelines, as well as the trainers, watched Snover and Solrock move across their field of vision, their heads moving in unison as Minoru watched the difference in how Snover was compared to Toxicroak. Even if it wasn't an evolved pokémon, it was still strong in its own right. Did one attack really make it into that much of a coward? Solrock, on the other hand, was robotic, never showing any change in how it felt about the battle, and instead changed the direction of the Fire Spin once more, so it was now in front of Snover just as the ice and grass mix looked behind it. Letting out a sigh of relief, Snover turned back around to face the front, its eyes nearly dropping from its head, the other people watching all cringed at the sight of Snover getting knocked around like a piñata.

"Why are you battling me with this weaker pokémon?" Minoru asked, Hayato not even paying attention, simply kneeling down next to his ice pokémon as it slid across the ground, a few small scratches on it. Nothing major, but it was definitely damaged. "I wanted to prove I was stronger than you, but you're not taking this seriously."

"Speak for yourself," Hayato said in return. "Snover's just getting his second wind," he said, Snover looking up at Solrock, it's eyes now burning with confidence. "But gusty isn't the kind of weather you should be concerned with," he said, the expression in Snover's eyes changing color to an icy blue as a dark mass of clouds began to amass above the battlefield.

"Huh? I didn't think the weather would turn bad this quickly," Kazuko said, noticing the more serious faces the other trainers had, looking straight at the battlefield. "What? What's going on with Snover right now?"

"It's Snover's ability," Dominika explained, Kazuko looking at her confused as a small pellet of ice dropped from the sky. "You may want to get under some cover," she said, pointing over at a three for Hayato's sister to get some shelter from. "Some pokémon are able to shift the forces of the weather, and mold them to their liking. Snover's natural power to create hailstorms is well-known, so Hayato's obviously done his homework when it comes to choosing his pokémon."

"Snover, Ice Shard!" Hayato commanded, Snover suddenly jumping back into the battlefield, two small pointed blocks of ice forming in its palm. "Fire!"

At Hayato's order, Snover flung both of its arms upward, and shot both shards at Solrock, the rock type able to withstand both of them fairly easily, but the combined pressure of the two ice attacks and the falling hail began to blind Solrock. Blinking several times to free its eyes of any debris, Solrock looked up at the battlefield, and saw Snover running up to it, its arm swinging around in wide circles as an intense forest green light covered the entirety of it.

"Go, Snover, Wood Hammer!" Hayato shouted, Solrock focusing its eyes on the small ice pokémon, looking back at its trainer, Minoru still covering his head as more and more hail began to batter down on him as much as it did the pokémon. "What's wrong? Weren't you going to show me that you were a much better trainer than me?" Hayato suddenly asked, Minoru's eyes snapping open.

"Solrock, Sunny Day!" Minoru called out as the entire body of his pokémon began to shine in a harsh, blinding light, even Hayato having to cover his eyes as Minoru stared directly through it. _"I will beat you. Even if I have to try a million times. I will win this battle,"_ he said to himself, a small ball of light shooting from the top spike on Solrock's body and into the sky.

As the orb hit the dark mass of clouds, it looked like an explosion of light that extended for miles, only Minoru able to handle the light without covering his eyes, just slightly cringing. Within seconds, the entire area was lit with harsh sunlight, the sun's rays pulsating as they travelled throughout the area, most of the people barely able to handle the intense heat.

"I control the weather now, senpai," Minoru said, sounding much more confident than he had before. "And now with the sunlight as harsh as it is, my Solrock's fire attacks grow in power. Fire Spin!" he commanded, Solrock letting loose another vortex of fire that moved straight at Snover, the ice type looking as though it were no longer afraid.

Without even a command, Hayato simply nodded at Snover as the ice and grass mix held out one of its hands, another pulsating light coming from it as the blazing tornado travelled closer and closer. With a single tensing of its eyes, from Snover's hand came a small, spherical barrier, surrounding it as the fire attack passed directly over it, the fire burning itself out inches in front of Hayato, who didn't even move a muscle.

Snapping his fingers forward, Snover ran back towards Solrock, its arm once again glowing in the deep green light, swinging it end over end so when it hit the ground beneath it, the grass was completely torn away. With a single leap into the air, Snover swung at Solrock, the rock type doing its best to dodge, but found Snover to be much faster than either the pokémon or its trainer had anticipated. With an upward swing from below, Snover was finally able to land a hit on Solrock, sending the rock pokémon flying back towards the very edge of the battlefield.

After taking a few deep breaths from the effects of its Wood Hammer, Snover, held out its hand again, and pointed it back up to the sky, a light blue orb appearing soon after. Identical to the one that Solrock used, Snover pushed the orb into the sky, the sunlight created by Solrock seemed to be sucked into the ball of light, and was replaced with the darkened skies once again, more crystals of ice beginning to fall down, battering down on both pokémon, only Solrock feeling its effects.

"Solrock, get ready for another Sunny Day!" Minoru shouted as he placed his arms over his head to keep from being hit, Solrock nodding as it prepared another ball of light and looked to the sky.

However, upon looking up, Solrock quickly found another barrage coming at it, but something was different about this hailstorm. Narrowing its eyes even more, both Solrock and its trainer noticed that the chunks of ice falling from the sky were becoming bigger with each passing minute. From the side, they heard a loud whistle, Hayato standing behind his Snover with the ice type's hands pointed at the sky, its palms continuously creating Ice Shard attacks, and sending them into the sky. As they fell down, the velocity made by the gravity made them into the ground even more powerfully, the rest of the hail also blinding both Solrock and Minoru.

"Solrock, you have to use Sunny Day now!" Minoru tried to say, hearing Hayato take in a deep sigh of disappointment. "What?"

"Who do you think you're kidding, anyway?" he asked, the others surprised by his sudden question, Snover ending its assault, Solrock barely able to stay afloat by this point. "Just yesterday you wanted me to teach you how to battle, and I even covered for you from your teammates. Now you want to battle me to prove your strong enough. You never told me why you wanted to be strong in the first place. If you want to be like this great battler you're always talking about, then obviously he didn't care that his friend was a weakling."

"Yeah, that's it!" Hinata shouted from the sidelines. "Hit 'em while he's down!" he cheered, Yukino punching him in the gut again with the back of her fist.

"You're so weak you can't even show me who you are in battle," Hayato said, Kazuko watching her brother, surprised at how antagonistic he was being. "The second I bring up a weather hazard to this battle, you do the same to counter me, and you use its effects to your own advantage with on clear strategy than that. What you're doing is mimicking people," he said, Minoru widening his eye in shock.

"W-What do you mean?" Minoru asked.

"You don't have enough confidence in yourself, and all you do is copy people, and consider that your own battle style when in reality, you're coloring yourself with other people's color," the opponent answered bluntly. "Take into consideration all the people we consider great artists. They didn't use the same colors and strokes that the others used. They made something their own, and showed that time and again. All you can do is follow after the master. If this is what you learned from that great trainer you're always prattling on about, then he must've not been that great a teacher or even a person."

"Don't talk about him like that!" Minoru suddenly shouted, surprising most of the people at how vocal he was being. "I won't let anyone talk about him with such insulting words."

"Well seeing as he has you to defend him, I'm not impressed," Hayato said. "Snover, let's finish this. Energy Ball," he said, looking away, Snover holding up its arm, pointing it directly at Solrock like a fixed cannon, bolts of electricity beginning to form as well as a pulsating green sphere, building up pressure as Snover looked at Solrock. "Why did I think that you'd be different than the rest of the trainers here?"

"I am my own person," Minoru began to tell himself, slowly repeating that to himself over and over. "I can do this without anyone's help," he said, a voice echoing in his mind.

"_So, what do you think, Minoru?" _a faceless figure said, offering a hand to a bruised Minoru on a patch of dirt. _"Still think you'll have it takes to beat me one day."_

"_I promise you, that I'll win one of these days,"_ the younger Minoru said, his eyes forming tears in the corners of the socket. _"I want to be a trainer just like you, so please wait for me!"_ he declared, bowing to the person in front of him, the figure simply giving out an exasperated sigh, patting Minoru on the head.

"_Don't be a person like me, Minoru,"_ he said. _"Be your own person. I can't battle with pokémon like Solrock. You can. Already you've beaten me in being able to battle with a certain kind of pokémon. Although, I'm sure it wouldn't take me long,"_ he said with a loud chuckle, Minoru showing his discouraged face. _"Anyway, you're not supposed to be me, Minoru. You're supposed to be the pokémon trainer named Minoru Saito. When the time comes, you'll know what it means to battle like that person."_

Coming back from his memory, Minoru was broken out of his trance with a piece of hail falling down onto his head. Taking the shattered pieces of it, and sifting his finger through it, Minoru could see the Energy Ball attack was fully charged, and was just now being fired from Snover over to Solrock. As his mind began to race, a large board appeared in his mind, calculations being done in his head as though he were writing them with speed like lightning. Opening his eyes completely, Minoru looked at Solrock, and grinned.

"Cosmic Power!" he shouted, Solrock almost coming back to life at the sound of its trainer's voice. Without even a second to figure things out, a magnetic force began to form around Solrock, drawing in pure energy that seemed to be shielding it, attaching seemingly invisible forces to its body as the Energy Ball exploded.

As the dust cleared away from Solrock, Hayato lifted a single eyebrow, and noticed that while Solrock had been damaged, it was still conscious. A problem he intended to rectify. Quickly calling for his pokémon, Hayato directed another Wood Hammer attack directly at Solrock, the rock and psychic type not moving as its eyes were quickly bathed in the light blue membrane that was its Psychic move. That's when things took an unexpected turn as the attack was not used directly at Snover, but instead at the hail that had just fallen in front of it.

As the pressure from the attack began to whittle away at the brittle ice, the ends of the hail pieces became like needles, now all directed at Snover, a singly narrowing of the rock pokémon's eyes launching one of them at Snover. Quickly dodging the otherwise useless attack, Snover looked frustrated at the sight of an entire barrage of ice quills being thrown at it.

"You've given me an entire arsenal of these things to use with your hailstorm, senpai," Minoru said, a bit more comfortable, but with obvious respect for Hayato.

"That doesn't change the fact that you still take damage from hail itself," Hayato shouted back, Minoru's mouth curling into a smile as he pointed at the top three horns of his pokémon's body. _"Guess I underestimated the kid,"_ Hayato admitted, a small smirk on his face, the top three spikes of Solrock radiating a small amount of heat from the very top, not enough to create a fire, but enough to melt the hail stones before they hit, and evaporate the water upon contact, steam continually cover Solrock's form. _"And then the descending vapor camouflages Solrock while it continues making these ice needles."_

Hayato had to admit, it was brilliant. Something he certainly wouldn't be able to do, especially since Solrock was never a pokémon he considered training up before. However, it wasn't enough to stop his Snover. Shouting out at Snover, directing him towards the giant cloud of steam, Snover held up its arm like a blaster of some kind. From the palm of its hand, a light green light began to form just as the clouds above the battlefield began to dissipate. As the rest of the hail stopped falling, and the steam around Solrock began to disappear. With a mere snap of his finger, Hayato made the command for Snover's attack, shooting another Energy Ball from where it stood. Seeing it coming just as the steam made the rest of the battlefield visible, Minoru held in his breath as soon as the attack exploded at his pokémon, not even waiting to see what happened.

* * *

"Solrock, return!" he shouted desperately, his falling pokémon, now bathed in a deep red light, being sent back into its ball, slowly going down to his knees in the destroyed grassy plains, both of his teammates running out to him. "I'm sorry I couldn't win for you guys," Minoru said, trying to fight back his own tears at losing as Dominika simply patted the top of his head.

"You did good, kid," she said with a wide smile, Kumiko also smiling, her stoic face warming up a bit as they both looked behind themselves, Hayato standing right in front of them, both Noibat and Ampharos looking as though they were trying to intimidate him, Snover the only walking forward. "What do you want?"

"Snover wanted to do this, not me," Hayato said, looking away as his pokémon held out an open hand to Minoru, the younger trainer looking at the ice type confused.

Lightly placing his hand in Snover's, Minoru was met with a large grin in Snover's face, Hayato trying not show his own smile at how friendly his pokémon was compared to Toxicroak. Walking up to him, Kazuko smiled at her brother, and then knelt down next to Minoru and Snover, the youngest trainer at the school instantly turning red at being that close to her.

"Thanks for giving Onii-chan a great battle," she said, Minoru nodding, unable to speak to her. "He doesn't get to battle too many strong people, but I can tell," she started. "You're really strong!" she said happily, Minoru looking up at her with a completely beet red face. "Oh no, are you sick again?" she asked, about to approach him with Snover holding her back, Kazuko looking at her brother's pokémon confused.

"You…," Hayato's voice sounded from the side, Minoru's face going pale with fear as he looked towards Kazuko's brother. "Little…Brat!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, Minoru quickly getting to his feet before running away from his upperclassman, Kazuko watching both of them confused.

"Why is Onii-chan chasing Minoru-kun?" Kazuko asked Kumiko, the older girl looking back at her as Dominika knelt down next to the non-trainer with a wide grin.

"Your Onii-chan just wants to show how much he likes Minoru, but I guess he's a bit too scary and enthusiastic for him to handle," she tried to explain, Kumiko scoffing at her easy explanation, Kazuko nodding in understanding as Kumiko stumbled over, trying not to lose her cool. "Eventually, though, Kazuko, you're going to have to choose between the two of them."

"For what?" she wondered, Dominika simply smiling as she and Yukino both grasped her, finding her innocence completely adorable, Kazuko still watching her brother chase Minoru around, his arms and hands moving in unison, not even watching where he was going, and instead seemed to be moving on pure instinct. _"Well, whatever I have to choose, I hope I can make the right decision. As long as I can stay here with my brother, my friends, his friends, and the rest of our new family, I think I'll be one of the happiest people in the world,"_ she said to herself, unaware of the next situation slowly building up that would soon occur, a team of three people looking down at the grassy knoll that the others were battling on.

"You've made your case, Hoshino," one of the people said, turning to look at the other two, off in their own worlds. "But you have to remember that a team is only as strong as their weakest link. If you don't remember that, your team will have no place in the Trainer Wars. Until then, I wish you luck…"

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Characters:

Hayato Hoshino: Toxicroak, Snover, other Pokémon TBA. NightFall00

Yukino Hayabusa: Galvantula, other Pokémon TBA. StattStatt

Hinata Hourai: Mawile, other Pokémon TBA. SDproductions

Minoru Saito: Solrock, other Pokémon TBA. JJun

Kumiko Nishimura: Noibat, other Pokémon TBA. The Lunar Lioness

Dominika Kovalenka: Ampharos, other Pokémon TBA. IfTimeWasStill

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Pokémon Notes:

Solrock (Rock/Psychic): 3'11", 339.5lbs. Solrock is the Meteorite pokémon, confirming that it is one of the few pokémon that is proven to be from outer space. It shares this distinction with its counterpart Lunatone and Deoxys. Other pokémon such as Clefairy, Jirachi, and Starmie are said to be from space, but more or less have only confirmed connections with astrological events, with the exception of Starmie which is merely based on a starfish. Solrock as well as Lunatone are seen as direct counterparts because their stats, while similar, are reversed in every opposing stat and both are exclusive to a single game in the original Gen III games. Solrock is based off of the sun, and is a version exclusive to Ruby, the pokémon containing Groudon, a pokémon that can control sunlight. Coincidence…I think not

Ampharos (Electric): 4'07", 135.6lbs. Ampharos is a pokémon that may have had its origins as a dragon type pokémon. Ampharos, in Japanese, is referred to as "Denryuu," using the combination of "denki" which means electrical power, and "ryuu" which means dragon. Also, it is one of the only pokémon to gain a Mega-Evolution and have its type changed, the other being Aggron, which loses a type. This type change may be based off of its name in Japanese. Ampharos also shares traits of sheared sheep as its unevolved forms lose wool as they evolve, and also a lighthouse given the shape of its body, and the light on its tail. As a Mega-Evolution, Ampharos has the highest base stat total of all non-legendary electric pokémon, and also has the highest special attack, special defense of all electric pokémon, and the highest number for any one stat among all electric pokémon.

Noibat (Flying/Dragon): 1'08", 17.6lbs. Noibat is one of the many iconic pokémon based on a bat, albeit the rarest out of all of them. Noibat and its evolution Noivern are the only dual typed flying pokémon with flying as their primary type, but Noibat has the lowest base stat total of all dragons, but then evolves into the dragon with the highest speed of all of its type. Noibat is known for being able to produce 200,000 Hertz of ultrasound waves to stun prey, enemies, and can even check the ripeness of the fruit it eats. For a bit of reference, the human range for being able to hear sounds of about 200-16,000 Hz, so the ultrasonic waves that Noibat can produce is 12 times too fast for us to be able to perceive, and any creature that could register that would find it earsplitting, so it's no wonder Noibat can do that.

Snover (Ice/Grass): 3'03", 111.3lbs. Snover, like Abomasnow, is one of two pokémon that can have the type combination of Ice and Grass, not that it does them much good. Snover is based on two different parts of Japanese culture, the first being its plant-like appearance, based on the Japanese radish, or daikon, a winter harvested vegetable that is usually only eaten around this time of the year. The second is the shape of its head, resembling the Japanese kanji for mountain, 山, with shows a three peak mountain. Upon evolving, Snover becomes based on the Abominable Snowman, or the Yeti, of the Himalayas, a Bigfoot like creature that leaves behind giant tracks in the snow. Among the stories is that the Yeti can supposedly kill with a glare, eat creatures from the inside out, and that in centuries past, it may have been heralded as a god of the hunt.

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Chapter 2 complete. Sorry if this was a bit of a wait from the last chapter, but being back home, I can't find a good place to relax while I'm writing at all since my parents got rid of my desk. Nonetheless, I was able to get this chapter to you, and with the way things are going, this story is going to be one of my favorites, and hopefully one of yours too. This chapter I introduced another team, which is how I'm going to be doing it from now on, which consists of Kumiko, a rational, calmer person who is very polite and respectful to others, Dominika, a very confident and outspoken foreigner with a major problem with Hayato, and then Minoru, a not as confident person with a major crush on Hayato's sister. May God have mercy on his soul. We also get a little bit more information about Kazuko, she can't cook to save her life. One of my favorite characters from anime is Mizuki Himeji from Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu because of her killer food, so I just had to add in a character like that. Well, thanks for reading, and as always, until we meet again, ja na.


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